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EARLY 



Sac 



I 



History of Amenia, 



BY 



NEWTON REED 



AAIEMA. N. v.: 

DE LACEY &. WILEY, PRINTERS. 
I. ST-'.. 



3"^ 2. SS 
'OS 






\ 



INDEX 



Tbe. names of the Early Residents and of the Sub- 
scribers to the Roll of Honor are placed in alphabetical 
order in the book, and are therefore left out of the 
Index. 



Adams. Elisba, "27, -ii 

John, 78 

.losiah, 78 
Adams- Mills. '27, 78. I'Jo 
AGKICI'LTUKE, 132 
Allen, Elijah. 37 

Ethan. 4»;. fi3. f;7 
Allerton, Dr. Corneliiis, If!, 7St 

l)r. Reuben, 16> 4'i, (i'A <;7, 78 

Archibald, 78, 136 

David, 78 

Isaac, 34. 78 

Jonathan, 78 

Samuel, 78 
Allswo'th,Janaes,13, 78 
Amenia I'reuinct. 5 

Union, IS. 39 
Amenia, Is a me of, 45, 46 

South, 39 
Andrews, Barzilla, C2 

Ko-or. 7!» 
Aretsnn, Jolm, •! 
Asbury. IJi.shop. 3(> 
Assembly. .Arcratiers of 4!) 
ASSOCIATOKS, :.3 
Atherton, C, 6"). ';7, 71> 

James, 78, 7it 

Barlow, Elislia, 4>2, 48, 40, 6'2. tj:), (U. T.O, 
House of Deacon, 144 
Capt. Jesse, 13(5 



IJarlow, Dc'ii'^on Moses 41, 42. 47, 79 

Xathan, (i.j, 71> 

I'ch- 7!) 

Thomas, l'2y 
Baptist Church, 33 

in N. E , 34 
Baptisms. 42 
Barker, Jacob, 110 

William, 47,49, 62'4, 79, 13<> 
.Barret, Kev. Jolm, 40, 43, 67, 141 
Bartlett. Daniel ('., 62, 68 
Beach. J. W., 142 

Zerah, 120 
Beebe. John, 47 
Bell, Wm., 37 
Belden. Deacon Joseph, 81 

Silas, 42 

Taber, 49 
Benedict, Benjamin, 32, 47 

John, 63 

Samuel, 63 
Benson, Hon. Egbert. 46,48,73 
Bejiton, Joel, 49, 129 
Bird, Moor, 127 

Bev. Isaac, 84 
Blount, Wm., 62. lA 
Bockee, Justio<', ilo 

Abraham, 27, 43, 47, 49, 50, 5S 
Boka. 48 
.Bokee, Jacob, 49, 56. 52, 68, 117 

James, 49 



INDEX. 



Bokee, Phenix, 28 
Bouquet, Henrj-, 83 
Bockee on Slaverv, 115 
Bostwick, Wm. II., 49 
Boughton, Sampson, 6 
Boughton, Sampson <k Co., 14 

Grant to, 15 
Boradll, xinne, 107 
Boyd, John, 1.9, 42 

House of, 144 
Bradley, Lemaii, I2ti 
Brown, Tristram. o2 

Gen., 44 

Joe], 4.9 
Brownson, John, 79 
Bronson, John, ^2 
Brush. Jesse. 62. fiS 

Col. Henry, 84, 13G 

Col. John, 50, 136 

William, 63 
Bryant, Amos, 49 
Buel, Grower, 32 

Col. Nathaniel. 64 
Burritt, Rev. Blackleach, 37 
Burton, Judah, 62, 6!» 
Bump, Jedidiah, 42, 65 

James, 62 
Burial Places 145, 

Cady, 28 

Camp, East, 15, 16, 120 

Canfield, Jndson, 124 

CANAL SHARON, 128 

Cantelon, Major De, 63 

Canterbury. 79 

Carmel in Nine Partners, 30 

Carpenter, J. B., 50 

B. I'latt, 50 

Joseph, 63 

Justice, 115 
Castle, Daniel, 42 

Gideon, 42 

Inn of, 119 
Chamberlain, 28 

Joseph, 42 

Colbe, 42, 48, 62, 63 

Dr. John, 48, 65 

Dr. William G., 114, 129 

Capt. William, 53, 62. 65, 68, 69 

Calvm, 127 

Conrad, 62 
Chicomico, 11 
CENTENNIAL, 54 
Child, Increase, 62, 64, 



,69 

Dr. Josepli, 87 
CHURCH, CITY. 37 
Church. Hon. Samuel, 22, 27 
CIVIL LIST, 48 

CITIZEN'S NAMES TO THE PLEDGE, 
Clapp's Patent, 79. 133 
Clapp, 133 
Cl.irk. Bishop, 141 
Cleaveland, Elisha, 26 
Clinton, Gen. James, 64 
CIVIL ORGANIZATION, 45 
Clark, Hiram, 13 
Cline, 1 eter, 62.65 

John, 42 
Cloth Dressing, 123 
Coal, Price of, 127 

Lehigh, 129 
Colfax, 24 

Cochran, Rev. Samuel, 36 
Colden, C, 6, 15, 100 
Coleman, A., 90 
Collins, Capt. David, 27, 77 

Hon. J. F.. 89 



C(jllin8, Burving Place of, 14-6 
Committee of Safetv, 53 
Conklin. Henry, 49' 

Nathan, 62 
Congdon, John, 63 
Conference, M. E., 36 
Conquest of Quebec, 46, 106 
Cook, Joab, 32 

Simeon, 32, 61, 62. 63. 67 
Cornw-ell, Rev John, 37, 3S 

W B.,50 
Cotton. Rev Dr., 26 
Creed. Wm., 6 

Crosby. Dr. Cvrenus. 49,90, i:;f> 
Crum E:ibow, 45, 85. 133 
Croton Water, 127 
Culver, Backus, 90 
Cummings, Rev. Dr , 141 
Curtis, John, 37 

Ruth, 146 

Danbury, Burned, 69, 98 
Dakin, Simon. 27, 34, 90 

Caleb, 90 
Darrow. Isaac, 48 
Davis, 28 

• Rev. Sheldon, 12 

M. L , 110 
Davies, William, 125 

Rev. Thomas, 90 
Delano, Benjamin, 65 ^ S' y 

Thomas. 41 ' 

Delamater. Claude, 22 

Jacob, 22 

Capt. Isaac. 22, 23, 6'.'. 69 

Benjamin, 23, 42 

Joljii, M. 1) , 24 

Martin. 23, 42 

Col. Anthony. 136 

Houses of. 23. 144 
Delavergne, Dr.. 92, ]:i9 
Denton, Benjamin, 37 

Joel, m 
Dewey. Jed., 32 
Dorr, 24 . 109 
Doty, David, 63-5, 70. \?/) 

Reuben, 63, 65 

Samuel. 41 

Ellis, 42 
Dover. 7 

Dubois, Col.. 64, (!8 
Dunham, John. 110 

Samuel, 62, 12(j 
Dutcher, Derrick, 22 

Edgct, Lieut.. 63. 64 
Ellis. 127 

Emniott. James, 6 
Eno. Stephen, 91 
Evarts. W. M..24 
Evartson, Jacob, 4S 

Admiral, 92 

Slaves of, 117 

House of. 145 
Everitt, Dr.. 139 
Equivalent Land, 6 

Federal Store, 125 

Co.. 125 

Bridge, 125 
Filkin. Henry, 6 
Flint, Jabez."62, 69 
Forbes. Samuel, 126 
Ford, John, 63 
Foss, Cyrus, 142 
Forge, Dunham's, 91 
Freeman, Robert, 32, 63 



INDEX. 



Ill 



Gale, Justice, 115 
GalesburKh, ifi 
Garnst'v, John, 53, lin 
Garretson, Rov. F., 3G 
Gates, Gen., 04 
Gillett, Joel, 27 

Gardiner, 27. 30 

Abner, 27, G3, 78 
Graham, Augustus, G 

Colonel, 64 
Graj', Jeouthan, 63, 67, 70 

Samuel, 62, 6^ 
Gridk'v, Noah, 126 

N., & Son, 126 

House of. 124 

Hall, Benjamin, 65 
Hamlin, Deacon, 30 

Isaac, 4 
Hammond, James, 4!» 
Harris. Moses, 47, (12, 66, 6S 
Harlem Heights. 136 
H arlem Kiver, 128 
Ilarvev, Joel. 52 
llatchi Eben, 42 

Lemuel, 62 

Oliver, 62 
Hawley A- Co.. 6 
Haven, E. O., 141 

Bishop, 141 
Heathcote, Caleb, 5, 6 
Hebard, Keuben, 34 

Deacon, 34 

Robert, 37 

Elijah, 37 
Herrick. Hufus, 47; 64 

Benjamin, 4i) 
Hessians, 73, 101 
Hitchcofk's Corner, 95 
Hitchcock, Amari. 42 

Samuel, 42 
Hinclilitre, 124 
Hott'man, Anthony, 48 
Hollister, Allen, 43 

Asa, 37, 63 

Benjamin, 27. 42 
Holmes, Jehosh., 26 

Ichabod, 63 
Horse Neck. 108 
HOUSES, THE OLD, 114 
Hopkins. Gov. !)6 

BenjaTuin, 55, ()2, t'n 

IVIichael, 47, 48, 32 

Noah, 32, 62, 63 

Reuben, 48, 56, 62, 64, 67 

Roswell, 32, 43, 52. 62-4. f, 

Stephen, 27, 32, 47, 48, ^ 7 

Weight, 32, 65, 62, 67, 
Hopkins' Inn, 117 
Humphrey, Col., 65 
Hurd, Asa, 88 

Allen, §8, . 
Hull, Gen ,84 ■• 
Huguenots. 39 
Hunting, Is-nac, 37 

Samuel, 125 
Hunt, A. J., 142 , 

A. S ,142' 
Hyde, Rev. Eli. :W 

William, 24, 107. 109 

Independence Fort, 67 

Mount, 64 
Independency, 31 
Indians, 11, 
Indians, Peqnot, 3, 11 
Indian Missions, 11, 12 



Indian Pond, 11, 13 

Burial Places, 13 
INCIDENTS OF THE WAR, 73 
Ingraham, (Jeorge, 37 

Tliomas. 37 
IRON MAKING, 126 
Iron, Price of, 127 
INNS AND STORES, 119 

James, G. 1)., 27 
Jamison, David, 6 
Jackson. Daniel, 18 
Jarvis, Samuel, 74 
Jay, John, 48 
Jefl'erson, 94 
Jewell, Wm., 36 
Jesuits, 11, 12 
Joiinson, Judge. 78 
Johnny Cake Furnace 127 
Judson, Azariah, 42 
Judson, 28 

Karner House, 26, 98 

Kellogg, Oliver, 42 

Ketchara, Joseph, 64 

Kent, Chancellor, 40 

Kent's Parish, 4(t 

Kidder, Rey. Dr, 142 

Khig. John,32 

Samuel, 32, 47-8, 52, 73 

Kingsley, W., 63, 70 . 

Kingston burned, 73 

Kinney, Stephen, 26, 37 
; Elijah, 28 

; Henry, 37 

\ Knapp, James, 62 
Jones, 70 
! Klock-s Field. 36 , ^ 

! Knibloc, Rev. Eben. 39, 40, 13, 116 
I William. 40 

•i El'iah.40 

! John, 40 

i Joseph, 40 

■ Stephen. 40 

! Knickerbacker, !', 21, 22 
j Kneiss, Mrs., 141 

' Land, Price of, 26, 81, 88 
i LandoJi, Jona , 66 
.{ Laselle, Josh., 63 
j La-wyers, 13S 
! Lead' Mines, 66 
I LEATHER, 122 

Leedsvillp, 27 
' LEEDSVILLE FACTORY, 124 
, 115 :-lU\ Leed^vi!].■ .Mill.loJ-i 
Leonard. !>r., 13» 
i JiKlue W.H.,.50 

Lexin^^'tuii Battle. News of, 51, 61 
LIBHAin'ES AND SCHOOLS, MO 
Library Union, 140,- 
Litchfield, 16 
Livingston, 16 

Furnace of, 127 
JVIanor of, 14, 17 
Gilbert, 48 
Robert, 15, 45 
Henrv, 45 
i Rev. Dr., 41 

JLord, Ephraim, 62, 70 
•Lossing, B. J.,l3T 
SLothrop, '28. 41,42 
Walter, 42 
ton is XIV., 17 
tot, Baltus,24 
pioyd, John, 64 



IV 



INDEX. 



Mackey, fi2, i>9 
McDonald, John, 66 

Anne 66 

Burying Groun<3, 66 
McGregor, kob Koy,66 
Map, Old, -21 
Manning, Kev. Dr. o5 
MAMUFACTURES, 122 
McKendree, Bishop, "26 
Manheini, 17 
Marsh, Silas, 47, 52, 73 

Kev. Cyrus, 100 

Lawver, 100 
McNeil, John, 65 
Marshall, James, 6 
Mather, Kev. Cotton, 01 
Mauwee, Eunice, 10 
Mead, Job, ;i2, 62 

Job, Jr., 62 

Nathan, 2(! 

Nathan, Jr., 32 

John K., 49 
Mechanics, 123 
Meeting-House, Ked,30, 32, 3« 

Council. 31 
Merrick, Pres., 142 
METHOI»I.ST SOCIETY, ''A 
Middle District, 48 
Militia, 63, 68, 74 
MILLS, 133 
Milk. Job, 47-8 
Millerton, 5 
Miller, Dr. J.. 110 
Miller, Fite, 112 
Mile-Stones, 131 
Mile-Bo ants. 131 
Mitchell. J., t;2. tiO 
Money, Silver, 121 
Moravians, 11 

Missions, AH 
Morse, Josiah, 64 
Montgomery, 78, 48 

Nase, Cornelius, 21 
Nase, Henry, 20, 21, 76 

John, 21 

I'hil., 21 

■\Villiaai, 21 

Kfjbberv of, 76 
New Milford, 16, 130 
Neely. Alex.. 49 

Mis, 41 
Newcomb, 80 
New Lights, 31, 3.S,- 
Ivewman, Josh., 62 
NINE PAKTNEKS, 5,15, 2(L2» 
Nciuk, 12 
North Castle; 75 
Northeast, 13 
North, Sclah. 124 
North Kiver Presbytery, 3:3 
Nor walk, 106 
Nye, Svlvanus, 42, 65 

'Eben,.50 

House of, 144 

Susan, 141 

OBLONG, 5-8, 10, 15 

SOCIETY OF, 39 
OFFICERS IN TlIEWAll,«; 
Orion, Levi, t;5 
Orange, Prhiceof, 92 
Ore Bed, 91. 126 
Osborn, Kev. J., 33, 44 

Isaac, 62 
Quebec, Conquest of, 100 



^ Paine. Abraliani, 26, 30, 32 
Abraham, Jr.. 47. 49 
Barnabas. 15.32,49,61 
'. Brinton, 49. (i2-6, 68 

."Maj., a prisoner. (18 
Kphraitii. 47-8,55, 61 
Jiid^re i:phraim, 50 
Notice (,f, 71 
Death of Judge, 73. 
House of Judge, 144 
Icbabod, 32 
' Jusiah, 26, 32. 100, 10;; 

I Rev. Sol., 31 

I Samuel, 34 

! Dr., 138 

i Genealogv of. 100 

! Palalines, 1(!, 17 
i Elecior, 17 

I Palmer, A. VV., 49 
j James, 34, 74 

I Park, Rufus, 124 
; : Elijah B.. 126 

i Parsonage Farm, 42 
i Pawling Encampment, 73 
I Peck, Rev. J. M., 35 
j Pennoyer, Amos, 63, 67, 70 
I Jesse. 63, 69 

, John,' 27 

I Josei)li, 47. <;r, 

I Perlee, Edmund. 47, 62, 65 

Henry. 136 
; Perry, Thos. W., rri) 
j Piatt. Jud^e. 73 
j I'laster, 134 

Pleasant, Name, 133 
! PLKIXJE, P.VTKIUTIC. 51 
j Pitts. Philip. 47 

Philip-s Manor. 40 
j Plymouth Hill, si 
I Porter, Job, 27 
I Daniel, 27 

i Post-Offlces, 13 J 
Post Riders, 130 
Powel,Rev. J., 12 - 
Powers, Frederick, 39 
Jacob, 62 
Peter, -37 
Ruth, 34 
Rev. H. N., 142 
Population. 41.42 
Rural, 123 
Preston Plains, 40 
Prince Edward, 40 
PROFESSIONAL MEN, 130 
Protestants, French, 23 
Puritans, 32, 39 

Rav, Silas, 62,69 
Reed, Eliakim. 42, 65 

Elijah. 42 

Ezra, 42. 48 

Jamts, 42. (;2, Cl-fi, f^< 

Store of, 120 

House of, 144 

(iershom, 42, 65 

Josiah .M., 126 

N. R., House of, 144 

William, 97 

Samui-1, 62 

Silas, 62 

Simeon, 62 
Reading, lu(; 

RECOKI*. JUDICIAL, 115 
RESIDENTS. EARLY, 77 
Reinke, Rev. A., 13, 26 
Reynolds, G. G., 50 



INDEX. 



Rovnulds. Joua, 47 

Hciiscot, l4o 
KPciemptidiiists. H7 
KELUIIOUS S(X"IKTIES.HJ> 
HEVOLl TlONAUY WAR, ol 
KcvoliitKiii <ry SoKiicrs, b2 
Kice, Kcv. P.. 3(i 
HOHHEiaES,7(i. 86 
Kodgers, Dr. J., 41 

Ichahod, 47 
Kose, Kc-v. I)., 41 
K<)\v, Conrad, 42 

N'icholas. 20, 42 

.Suns of. 20 

Saimiol. 42 

I'hilip. hi J 
Kows, ralati)n.'s,20 
Rouli. Johan., 20 
Rowk'v, 28 

Daniol. 42 
ROLL OF HOKOR, 53, 55 
Rudd, Hezak-el, 27, 62. 70 
Riimhoiit, l;« 
Kiuidall, David. 35, 37, 62, 7<i 

Jacob, 136 
KiissiL, Samuei, 136 

Sackctt, Ezekiel, 42 

Dr. John, 15. 16 
Richard, 14. 15. Hi 
Cliildren of, 15 
Books of, 16 
«irave of. 145 
.St. John, Ezra. 63 
Salisbury. John, 27 
SEMINARY, AMENI A. -w, 141- 
Saratoua, 67 
Scatacook, 10, 11, 12 
Schuvler. (ien., 70 
SETTLEMENTS, FIRST, 14 
St'di;"vvick, John, 64 
Scnatf, :Mfnibers of, 48 
Schools, Couniiiin, 140 
Separatists, 31. 32, ;J8 
Separate, M. H., ;i8, 145 
SLAVERY, 82, 110,117, 118 
Slason, I'fter, 52 
Sutherland, David, 63 

R..,i;cr. 37.62 
SOLDIERS, INDIVIDUAL. ti7 
Soldiers. 1812, 136 

of Sharon. 75 
.Spencer. Alexander, 42, 62. t;,s 

Ambrose, son of, 4:) 

Ambrose, Jun.. 44, I3(; 

Mark, 129 
Spencer Corner, !)0 
.Spies, 74 
Shepherd, Daniel, 63 

Jona., 32, 34 

Samuel, 32, 47 
Sherman, W. 49 
Sheep in Dutchess, 134 
Shevalier, Ellas, 32 

Deacon, 34 

Peter, 32. 

Richard, 34 
Showerman, A., 24 
Shunpike , 131 
Smith. Elijah, 63 

Gov., 93. 96 

Isaac, 28. 49. 53, 125 

James, 53 

Joel, 37 

Lawrence, 125 

Plait. 49 
Sniithfield Society, 3K 



I Snyder. Samuel, 20 
I Stt'btiins' Corner, 106 

Steel Works, 14, 127, 133, 136 
Snpervis(jrs, 47 
Square. lo9 
Swift, E. M., 50 

Kev. Job, 38 

Judah, 5t), 52, 65 

Moses, 42 

Keubeii, 42 

Seth, 4-J 
Scythes, Price of, 127 

Taber, William, 127 
Tannery, 114. 123 
Tecumtiia, 84 
Teller, Dr. A., 64 
Ten •Mile River, 10 
Ten Eyck, Henry, 6 
Thompson, Ezra, 66, 85 

lienajah, 49 
TIMES, AMENIA, 143 
Ticonderoga,89 
Toby, Elisha, 42 
TORIES IN DUTCHESS, 75, 8t; 
Tower Hill, l(i2 
TOWN MEETING, FIRST, 4<; 
TRAVEL, ROUTES OF. 131 
True, Prof. C. K., 141 
Trumbull, 11 
Trumbull, 75 
Turnpike, Dutchess, 131 

i Van Camp, J., 22 
Vanernom, I , 27 
Valley Forge, 69 
Vermont, Name of, 46 

Walworth, Chancellor, 24, 109 
Warren, James, 81 

Stephen, >*%. 65 / , .^-'t 
Warner. Seth, 63, 67 
Washburn, Miles, 47 
Wardwell, Allen, 36 
WAR OF 1812, 130 
Washington, lien., 74 
Washiac, 10, 14, 15 
Wassaic Creek, 14 

Furnace, 126 
Waterman, 41, 42, 143 
Waters, Samuel, 63, 64, 115 
Waantununck River. 14 
Wakely, Rev. Dr., 36 
Weebutook, 10 
Wells, Selah, 37 

Josh., 37 
Westtield Society, 37 
Westfield, F.A.,68 
Wequagnock. 11 
Wheeler, F^lijah, 48 

J. M„ 97 

Noah, 62, 63, 67 

lien son H., 97 

Timothy, 37 

Thomas, 27 

Burial Place, 14(i 
Wheat, 120 
Whitefield, 32, 38 
Willett, Gilbert, 7, 113 

Marinus,68, 89, 113 
Willson, Robert, 32, 37, 125 

Thomas, 37 
Winchell, Prof. Alexander, 142 
Winchester, A., 42 
Winegar, Conrad, 19, 40,47, 115 

Garrett, 16, 18-9, 62, 69 

Hendrick. 19 



VI 



INDEX. 



Winegar, House of, 144 
Samuel S., 19 
Uldrick, 16, 19, 145 
Eve, Grave of, 146 

Wolcott, 28,47, 133 

Wolfe, Gen , 106 

Woolse}'. 28 



Wood, Rev. E.,;«. 34,74 
Worthlngton. Rev. W., !)6 
Wyoming, 79, y.j, 113 

Young, l)r. Thos., 20, 45-6, 106 
William. 42 



Erratum.— On page 88, line 6, read two dollars and a half, instead of ten dollars and a half. 



INTEODUCTION. 



The histoi-y of a rural town not only gratifies a most 
reasonable curiosity, but possesses a positive value as a 
source from which is drawn the history of the State ; 
and there is a peculiar importance belonging to the 
records of those towns, which had their beginning at 
the commencement of our national life. The peoplo, 
who laid the foundations of these small communities, 
were laying the foundations of a great nation, and in no 
age or country, has the character of a nation been so 
greatly formed by the people, in their primary associa- 
tions. Any careful record of these communities will 
become more valuable as it grows older. 

In making a memorial of the early settlers of 
Amenia, and of their first civil and social institutions, 
I propose to present only those things, worthy of record, 
which would soon be out of the reach of any historical 
research, and without attempting to bring the record 
down to the present time, either of the events of general 
interest, or of particular families. 



INTRODUCTION. 



There is no need, in such a work, of describing those 
physical features of the country, wnich remain un- 
changed, nor of introducing any part of general history, 
which may be found in books, accessible to the ordinary 
reader. 

Those, in whose interest this work is undertaken, 
need not be told that the sources of information are very 
unfruitful. There is a surprising absence of any written 
memorials of those families, which were earliest here. 
They were men of toil, and not literary, or disposed to 
keep a record of their uneventful lives ; and their se- 
cluded location was so far removed from any scenes of 
historic interest, that these memorials, — which hardly 
come up to the dignity of history — will be of interest to 
only a few, besides the residents here, and the descend- 
ants of the earlier inhabitants. 

The difficulty of finding exact data, and the desire 
to be as accurate as possible, and to be brief, are the 
reasons why so much time and research should be ne- 
cessary for so small a work. The writer expects to be 
reminded of some errors, and of many unavoidable 
omissions. 



GEOGRAPHICAL LIMITS. 



The Frecinct of Amenia was to consist of the nine 
easternmost tier of lots of the Lower or Great Nine 
Partners, and of that part of the Oblong, lying between 
these lots and the Connecticut line. This included the 
present town of Amenia and all that part of the present 
town of Northeast, south of a line running through the 
northern part of the present village of Millerton. The 
tovm of Amenia, when organized, had the same geo- 
graphical limits. 

NINE PARTNERS. 

The Great Nine Partners Patent was granted in 
1697 to Caleb Heathcote, and others, and it covered the 
territory very nearly, which is now included in the 
towns of CHnton, Pleasant Valley, Washington, Stan- 
ford, Amenia, except the Oblong, and the south part of 
Northeast, except the Oblong. This grant was made 
before the Oblong was ceded to New York, and was 
bounded east by what was then the colony line. 

This patent was divided into thirty-six principallots, 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AIVIENIA. 



besides nine narrow water lots, which extended to the 
Hudson Eiver, across the southern part of the town of 
Hyde Park, and the "nine easternmost lots," Nos. 28 to 
36, were allotted one to each of the nine proprietors. The 
south lot in the tier. No. 28, was allotted to Augustus 
Graham, No. 29 to John Aretson, No. 30 to Henry 
Filkin, No. 31 to Caleb Heathcote, No. 32 to James 
Emmott, 33 to Wilham Creed, 34 to David Jamison, 35 
to James Marshall, and 36 to Hendrick Ten Eyck. The 
lots were nearly equal, containicg about 3,400 acres, 
varying somewhat according to the quality of the land. 
The Little Nine Partners tract was north of this, 
and corresponded nearly with the towns of Milan, Pine 
Plains, and th(3 northwest part of Northeast. This pat- 
ent was granted to Sampson Boughton and othersiu 
1706. 

" THE OBLONG." 

•'The Oblong," or "Equivalent Land," ceded to 
New York by Connecticut, after years of controversy, 
in 1731 — 61,440 acres — was 580 rods in width, and was 
divided into two tiers of square lots, called 500 acres 
each, though exceeding that. It was sold by the colon- 
ial government of New York to Hawley & Co., and al- 
lotments made to the individuals of the Company, and 
by them sold to emigrants, "who received a guarantee 
of title from the colonial government." "It was this 
security of title, which caused these lots to be eagerly 
sought after by emigrants," The Crown also gave a 
deed of these lands to an English company, which en- 
deavored to maintain its claim in the English court of 
chancery, and the suit was brought to an end only by 
the Revolutionary war. 

This land was surveyed and divided by Cadwallader 
Golden, Surveyor-General and Lieutenant Governor of 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



New York, who was one of the Commissioners. Another of 
the Commissioners was Gilbert Willett. They became 
owners of some of the land. The Oblong lots, included 
in Amenia, were nnmbers 43 to 72. 

The name " Oblong," — at first applied to the whole 
tract — became after a few years limited to that valley 
in Amenia, of six or seven miles in extent, now Amenia 
Union and South Amenia. 

The history of this controversy is this. In 1664, it 
was agreed between the two colonies that the boundary 
line should run from a certain point on Long Island 
Sound no'i th-north-west to the Massachusetts line ; both 
parties then understanding that this line would be par- 
allel to the Hudson Eiver, and twenty miles from it, 
which was the acknowledged limit of the two colonies. 
This was when the whole country north of Long Island 
Sound was an unknown land, and there was great mis- 
conception of the points of the compass ; for this direc- 
tion would lead to the Hudson Eiver below "West Point. 

When this error, which both parties recognized, was 
made apparent, it was agreed to rectify ic. But the 
people who had s^ettled on lands defined by that bound- 
ary very earnestly desired to retain their civil connec- 
tion with the Connecticut colony ; it was therefore 
agreed by that colony to cede to New York sm eqidvaleni 
in territorial extent, equal to the present towns of 
Greenwich, Stamford, New Canaan, and Darien, an area 
12 miles by 8 — 61,440 acres. 

The agreement was completed and subscribed by 
the Commissioners at Dover* on the 14th of May, 1731, 
after the entire survey had been made by them, and 
the monuments set up. 

* Dover is spoken of by the Commissioners m their report as a village, the only one 
on the west side if the Oblong ; and Ridgefield and New Milt<.i\I the only villages on the 
east side. 



8 THE EAELY HISTORY OP AMENIA. 



The survey was made by runniDg a random line 
from a given point to the Massachusetts' boundary and 
the true boundary between New York and Connecticut, 
was found by perpendicular surveys from this random 
line. This accounts for the fact that the monuments, 
which mark the boundary line between the two states, 
are not in a true line, which has excited a vexatious con- 
troversy for so many years and is not even yet settled.* 



* The Governor of Connecticut, in his recent message, calied the attention of the 
Legislature to this subject. 



ASPECT OF THE COUNTEY. 



There was not an unbroken forest here when the 
first settlers came ; as the fires of the Indians, in their 
pursuit of game, had destroyed the timber on the dry 
lands, except a few isolated specimens of oak, white 
wood, and wild cherry, some of which attained great 
size. On the plains there were scattered small oaks, 
wliich had sprung up after the fires, and by the creeks, 
and in wet lands, there were large button-wood 
and black-ash trees ; and all the streams were overhung 
with a mass of alders and willows. The mountains, it 
has been said, were covered with a less dense growth 
of wood than at present. It is evident that in the val- 
leys, the white wood or tulip tree, and tlie wild cherry 
have given place to other trees, as the elm ; and that on 
the mountains, the chestnut has greatly increased. The 
mountains, being burned over also by the Indians, were 
so bare, that the wild deer were plainly seen from the 
valleys below. 



10 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



There were but few of the large wild animals ; only a 
few deer, and an occasional otter in the creeks, and 
very rarely a wolf. 

The principal stream, called in Dover, the " Ten- 
Mile Eiver," and .in Amenia, the " Oblong Eiver," 
was called by the Indians the Weebutook,^ and its 
largest tributary from the west in this town was called 
by them the *' Wassaic."t These streams were stocked 
with herring, and were frequented by great numbers of 
minks, and were the resort and breeding place of wild 
ducks. 



• Weebutook signified "Beautiful Hunting Ground.' This is the interpretation 
flven by Eunice Mauv.-ee, grand-daughter of the Chief, Gideon Mauwee, of the Scatacook 
tribe of Indians, in Kent, Coun. It was she who attained the age of 102 years. 

t The Indian word "Wassaic is understood to signify " Difficult," or requiring hard 
labor, perhaps on account of the difficulty of access to the stream in its rocky chasm. In 
1703, it was written " Washiack." The village of Wassaic was so called in 1843. 



THE INDIANS. 



When the first settlers came, tliey found several 
scattered remnants of the Pequot Indians," who had 
their hunting grounds up and down these valleys. 
They had a village in the northeast part of the town, 
on the west side of Indian Pond, called Wequagnoch, 
a settlement called Checomico, near Pine Plains, and at 
Scatacook, in Kent, Conn., there was a considerable 
bribe. There was constant intercourse between these 
liiferent settlements, and frequent migrations from one 
to the other. 

The remarkable labors of the Moravian missionaries 
among these Indians began in 1740, and were attended 
with very evident success, but the missionaries were so 
annoyed, and their people, by the officers of the colon- 
ial government that in a very few years they were 
Iriven out of the state.+ These worthy christian labor- 
3rs were charged with being Jesuits, and emissaries of 



* That they -vvcre Pequots is genorally accepted, on the authority of the accurate 
listorian Trumbull. 

t These exiles ^t-nt first to Bethlehem, i'erii.. under the friendly care of the Breth- 
ren, and thence to Canada. 

*2 



12 THE EARLY HISTORY OF ASfENIA. 

the French, a most odious and unreasonable imputation. 

It may be some palliation of this excessive jealousy, 
that the missionaries were foreigners, and that this was 
a period of our country's history when the French in 
Canada were sending their emissaries — especially the 
Jesuits — to the Indians on our northern borders to ex- 
cite them against the English and the colonies ; though 
there is no reason now to believe that the influence of 
these emissaries extended to the scattered and feeble 
bands of Indians in this part of the state. It should 
be noted also that it was not by the local authorities, 
that the missionaries were disturbed, for they were held 
in high esteem by their English neighbors."^ 

There was not only no outbreak here between the 
Indians and the whites, but they lived in perfect friend- 
ship, and the rights of the Indians were faithfully 
guarded by the stronger and more sagacious party. 

After the Christian Indians had been driven out by 
the state, the Scatacooksof Connecticut continued their 
annual excursions through the valleys of Amenia till 
after the beginning of the present century, and until 
the last remnant of the tribe had sunk into idleness 
and intoxication. t 

After the dispersion of the Indians, one of the Mo- 
ravian missionaries — Eev. Joseph Powell — ministered 
to a congregation of the early settlers at the station 
in Amenia, near Indian Pond, where he died in 1774, 
He was buried there, with some of his people, on the 
field of his labors, in the burying ground of the breth- 
ren, near their house of worship. Here also the monu- 

* A valuable and pleasing history of these Moravian missionaries was prepared by 
Rev. Sheldon Davis in 1858, the original manuscript journal ot the missionaries having then 
recently been discovered in the historical archives of the Brethren at Bethlehem. 

t At a place by the river, called the " Nook," near South Amenia, the Indians -were 
accustomed to hold their noisy " pow-wows." There were a few Indian wigwams near the 
outlet of Swift's Pond. 



THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 13 



mental stone says James Alworth died, 1786, aged 73, 
Mary Alworth died, 1797, aged 79 (and others). This 
ground, consecrated by missionary work and christian 
burial, is on the farm of Col. Hiram Clark, in the pres- 
ent town of Northeast, not far east of his house and on 
the west side of Indian Pond."* 

Eev. Abraham Eeinke, another of the Moravian 
Brethren, ministered to the people, in different parts of 
the town, before the settlement of a pastor. 

* Several Indian burial plaws are spoken of in tradition; one on lands of Myron B. 
Benton; another where that old burving ground lies, near Amasa 1). (Coleman's, still the 
burial place ot families in that vicinity. Besdes these it has often happened that bones, 
cvidentlv of Indian remains, have been disinterred in the Oblong valley. 



FIEST SETTLEMENTS. 



^ MR. SACKETT. 

Mr. Richard Sackett* was here several years before 
any other settlement was made, though the precise 
year when he brought his family is not known. The 
place now known as the " Steel Works," on the Wassaic 
creek and the Harlem Railroad, was the place where he 
made his settlement, which is said to have been pre- 
vious to 1711. In the Colonial Records, we read ; 
" March 11, 1703, Richard Sackett petitioned govern- 
ment for license to purchase (of the Indians) a tract of 
land in Dutchess county, east of Hudson's river, called 
Washiack." " Oct. 20, 1703, License granted." " Nov. 
2, 1704, Patent to Richard Sackett & Co. f«)r said land, 
containing about 7,500 acres, or thereabouts." " April 
10, 1706, Patent to Sampson Boughton & Co. for a tract 
of land joining on north side of above patent, and ex- 
tending east to the colony line of Conn, and Waanti- 
nunk river, and north to the manor of Livingston." 

* He is called by tradition " Captain " Sackett, but in all the old public documents, he 
Is mentioned as "Mr." Sackett. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 15 

Mr. Sackett was a resident of New York city, when 
he obtained the license and patent of 1703 and 1704. In 
1711 and 1712, he was one of the commissioners with 
Mr. Robert Livingston, in settling the Palatines, at 
East Camp, or Germantown. This occupied so much 
of these two years, that he could not have spent much 
of his time at his new home at Washiack. 

The patent of 1704—" 7,500 acres, or thereabouts " 
— must have been covered by the Great Nine Partners' 
Grant, which was made May 27, 1697, making Mr. 
Sackett's subsequent title invalid. 

The patent of April 10, 1706, to Sampson Boughton 
& Co., was that of Little Nine Partners, and Mr. Sackett 
was one of the nine. 

In 1726, Mr. Sackett made application to the Con- 
necticut Legislature for license to purchase of the In- 
dians a tract of land in the west part of the town of 
Sharon. But his petition was denied, though repeated 
several times. 

He was never able to maintain his title to any of the 
Oblong lots, nor could his heirs, though his son — Dr 
John Sackett — attempted, in 1750, under the grant of 
7,500 acres, to hold some of these lands against Lieut. - 
Gov. Colden and others.^' 

Mr. Sackett died 1746, and was buried on the hill, 
not far from his place of residence, in a little cemetery, 
now greatly neglected. There is no stone to mark his 
grave. t 

He had three sons and two daughters..'!: To his son. 
Dr. John Sackett, he gave, by his will, the homestead, 

* Lot No. 45 of the Ob!ong, which was near Mr. Sackett's place, was allotted to Gov. 
CoMen, who made the survey of the Oblong, and was given by him to his son, Alexander 
Colden, who, in 1750, re-surveyed lots 43, 44, 45, and 46. 

t Barnabas Paine, Esq., saj^s in his manuscript that he had several times visited the 
grave of Mr. Sackett in that place, but now no stone can be found there which identifies the 
grave. 

t The children of Mr. Sackett were Richard, John, Josiah Crego, Mary and Catherine- 
The last of the family that left here , grand-sons of Mr. Sackett, went to Eenuselaer Co. 



16 THE EARLY HISTORY OP AMENTA. 

orchard," and meadows, and improved lands, and also 
his books.f To his son Eichard, he gave two hundred 
acres of land, above his equal share, " as being his 
eldest son." These bequests of land show Mr. Sackett's 
own estimate of his titles, some of which, at least, proved 
to be empty. 

It may be supposed, that Mr. Sackett, being much 
associated with Mr. Livingston, and observing his suc- 
cess in acquiring a large landed estate, was encouraged 
to enter upon a similar course. There is nothing, how- 
ever, in the history of these transactions that appears 
unwortliy of an honorable man. Gov. Hunter, in 1712. 
— to the Home Government — commends Mr. Sackett's 
" diligence and indastrj'," and says, " and he well dp- 
serves a reward, to which I humbly recommend him." 

At the time Mr. Sackett established liis family in 
Amenia, there was not another white famil}^ in the 
county nearer than Poughkeepsie, and the whole popu- 
lation of Dutchess county, then including Putnam, was 
only about 450. There was no settlement in the ad- 
joining county of Litchfield, in Connecticut, except in 
Woodbury and New Milford.ij: 

THE WINEGARS. 

In 1724, Capt. Garret Winegar came to Amenia 
Union from the East Camp, now Germantown, in Co- 
lumbia county, on the Hudson river. His father, Ul- 
drick Winegar, then seventy-two years old, came with 
him. They were of those Palatines, who were forced 
out, destitute, from their native country, in the interior 

* This orchard was celebrated long after.— One tree is left. 

t These books, some of which were on subjects of National History, show the literary 
disposition of the family. They were presented by Dr. John Sackett to Dr. Reuben Allerton , 
and after his death they were taken by his son, Dr. Cornelius Allerton. 

t There were twelve families in New Milford in 1712 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 17 



of Germany, out of revenge by Louis XIV., and were 
befriended by the English government, which gave them 
lands in this new country, and for some time a free 
subsistence. " The Elector Palatine, the head of the 
little state, having deserted the cause of France, orders 
were given to lay waste his country. The cruel edict 
was fearfully executed ; two cities and twenty-five vil- 
lages were reduced to ashes, and their innocent inhabi- 
tants were left to perish by cold and hunger." 

A part of these people, brought to America by the 
friendly ships of Great Britain, were placed at the 
Camp, where six thousand acres of land were divided to 
their several families, and they were supplied also by 
the royal bounty of Queen Anne"^ with present subsist- 
ence, with horses and cattle, and all those implements 
which are necessary for the successful prosecution of 
their future industries. It was expected that there 
would be some return to the government for these 
favors in the production by the colonists of naval stores, 
hemp, tar, pitch, and pine lumber. 

The six thousand acres now the town of German- 
town was a part of the manor of Livingston, and was 
released to the Crown by Mr. Livingston for this pur- 
pose, that it might be the home of these refugees. 
Many of the Palatines were located in other parts of 
the state.t 

This settlement was made in 1710 ; and in 1724, Mr. 
Winegar, probably through some discontent, was led to 
seek a home in this unoccupied region. The cause of 

♦ One of the royal gifts of Queen Anne was a church for their worship. 

t The Upper Palatinate was a small state, Ij-insr on both sides of the Rhine, having 
Manheim for its capital. In 1674, the whole of it was rendered almost desolate by the 
troops of Louis XIV., who had no better motive than that the invaded provmce Avas part of 
the empire with which he was then at war, and next, that the inhal)itants were almost all 
Protestants. Abont 2,700 Palatines, who had sought refuge in England, were serit to 
America by the British government in 1710. They were mostly German Keformed, or 
Presbyterian. 



18 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

discontent was this. The colonists complained of un- 
reasonable exaction upon their productive iudustrj, and 
that the royal bounty of food was unjustly withheld 
from them by the commissioners, some of whom seem 
to have made too great a profit out of these subsidies. 

It is a reasonable conjecture that Mr. Winegar's 
acquaintance with Mr. Sackett at the Camp may have 
led him to come to Amenia, and it is evident tiiat he 
was actuated by a spirit of independence and enterprise, 
and not by any desire for speculation. 

He entered upon land at Amenia Union — where he 
built his house — without any title, except from the In- 
dians, and afterwards, when the Oblong was confirmed 
to New York, and surveyed, he received a title from the 
proprietor of those lots at a reasonai)le price. 

In 1739 Mr. Winegar purchased of Daniel Jackson 
300 or 400 acres of land in Connecticut, adjoining his 
own, and removed into the house built by Mr. Jackson 
on the hill above the site of the brick factory, thus be- 
coming a citizen of the town of Sharon. He had built 
a mill at a place above the present mill sites of the 
place, which was the first mill in this part of the coun- 
ty, and the first building erected in the town of Sharon. 

The character of Mr. Winegar for honesty was pro- 
verbial. He lived on the most friendly terms with the 
Indians, by whom he was regarded with the greatest re- 
spect, and whom he several times defended against the 
injustice of their white neighbors ; and it is said that he 
gave his children charge at his death that they should 
never allow the Indians to go from their doors in want 
of food. 

It is worthy of note that there is no mention of any 
block-house, or any defense against the Indians, put up 
by these early settlers, notwithstanding they were sur- 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 19 

rounded by large numbers of them, and were isolated 
for many years from any other white settlements ; while 
in Litchfield, between 1720 and 1730, there were five 
houses surrounded by palisades, and "soldiers were 
stationed there to guard the inhabitants while at work 
and at worship on the Sabbath." 

Mr. Winegar died in 1755 in the midst of his enter- 
prises. He made provision in his will for his fourteen 
children, and also made special and kind mention of his 
servant "Tom." His father, Uldrick Winegar, had 
died in 1754, aged 102 years. Their graves and those 
of many of their descendants, are in that well-chosen 
burial place near Amenia Union. 

Hendrick Winegar,-=^ the oldest son of Capt. Garret, 
had his residence for several years near the foot of the 
west mountain, and in 1761 he built the large stone and 
brick house a short distance west of Amenia Union. 
He was the ancestor of the families of that name in 
Kent, Conn. 

Uldrick, another son, was the grandfather of Capt. 
Samuel Snyder Winegar, Conrad Winegar, another 
son of Garret, was a magistrate and public-spirited cit- 
izen in the town. His antique and quaint-looking old 
house, which stood near the rocks in rear of Samuel 
Hitchcock's house, remained till about 1820. His only 
son, Gerhard, or Garret, the grandfather of Garret H., 
was an officer in the Eevolution, and died before the 
close of the war. Esq. Winegar held a valuable tract of 
land, extending from the highest point of the east 
mountain to that of the west. The wife of Capt. John 
Boyd and the wife of Col. Colbe Chamberlain were 
daughters of Esq. Winegar. 

One of the daughters of Capt. Garrett Winegar was 

♦ He was called Ensign Wineffar. 

^3 



20 THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



the wife of Nicholas Row, Sen. Another was the wife 
of Dr. Thomas Young, who will be mentioned again. 

Lieutenant Samuel Snyder, who was one of the Pa- 
latines, and came here with them, was the brother-in-law 
of Garret VVinegar, and his wife was the daughter of 
Henry Nase. 

His house was where John D. Barnum lives. He 
was 95 years old when he died in 1808. Here is now 
(1875), planted by him, the first pear tree grown in this 
part of the land. 

THE ROWS. 

The Rows were also Germans, and are supposed to 
have been also of the Palatines, and to have come to 
this place soon after the Winegars and previous to 1731. 
See old map of Nine Partners. 

" Johannes Rouh died in 1768, aged 72 years." He 
lived where the brick house now stands built by Henry 
Morehouse. He was the father of Nicholas, Sen., and 
William. The sons of Nicholas, Sen., were Nicholas, 
Jun., Samuel, Conrad, and Garrett."^ The sons of Nich- 
olas, Jun., were William, Nicholas, John, Henry, Con- 
rad, and Gilbert. His wife was the daughter of John 
Lovel. Of the other sons of Nicholas, Sen., Conrad 
lived where Walter Sherman does, and Garret built the 
Hilliard house, a stone building where Shadrack Sher- 
man's house now stands. 

The old houses, built by these early settlers, of w4iich 
there were as many as seven or eight near Amenia 
Union, at the beginning of the present century, were 
objects of special interest. 



• One of the daughters of Nicholas Row, Sen., was the wife of Benjamin Delamater, 
Another was the wife of Capt. William Young. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 21 

There is a pen and ink map,* executed previous to 
1731, of the Nine Partilers, which shows the dwellings 
in Amenia at that time. Mr. Sackett's is shown, and 
Henry Nase's, four near Amenia Union, and one on 
Lot 33, The Lot lines seem to be drawn according to 
the survey, and the streams and ponds are laid down 
with a good deal of accuracy. This map is supposed 
to have been made by the family of one of the proprie- 
tors of the grant. 

The dwelling on Lot 33 is probably intended for 
that of Salisbury, who is mentioned on page 21. 

The four houses near Amenia Union confirm the 
supposition that Mr. Row was there previous to 1731, 
and the location of one of the houses agrees with that 
of Mr. Row. 

This steadfast Christian people have not gained that 
historical notice which has been acceded to the Hugue- 
nots and to the Hollanders ; and it may be suggested 
as a reason that the Germans, at their early and en- 
forced emigration, and out of their great poverty, neg- 
lected the higher education and were without a historian 
to make a memorial of their deeds. 

HENRY NASE. 

In 1725 Henry Nase settled in the south part of the 
town. His memorial stone, in the cemetery at Dover, 
says : — " Henry Nase, born in High Germany, died 
Dec. 11, 1759, about 64 years old." His residence was 
near where his grandson, Corneilius, lived, but on the 
opposite or east side of the river,t and here also his son 



* The compiler is indebted to Mrs. Caroline Germond, a descendant of Henry 
Filkin, one of the Nine Partners, for the use of this map. 

N. B.— Space would f*il to mention all the voluntary contributions, which have been 
made, to assist in this work. 

t The old map— mentioned above— indicates that Mr. Nase"s first house was on the 
east side of the river, which is also the testimony of tradition. 



22 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



Philip, Sen., resided, who was the father of Henrj, John, 
Philip, Corneilius, and William. Henrj, the oldest of 
these, being a tory, emigrated to Nova Scotia after the 
Revolutionary war. The others occupied four contigu- 
ous farms in that beautiful agricultural district. 

K NICKERBACKER AND VANDUSEN. 

It appears that these families were in the south part 
of the town at an early period and also that Jacob Yan 
Camp and Derrick Dutcher were in the north part of 
Dover, previous to 1731.^" 

There is a deed, written in the Dutch, or Holland 
language, of the date of 1711, from Herman Knicker- 
backer to Corneilius Knickerbacker. It appears to be 
of land occupied by Van Dusen, and the house of Van 
Dusen was a r.hort distance east of Geo. T. Belding's 

It was about 1720, that Van Dusen, Knickerbacker 
and Dutcher purchased land in Salisbury of the Indians, 
supposing, as has been said, that their purchases were 
within the province of New York. 

" The first highway from Salisbury was from Wea- 
tague through Lakeville, Ore Hill, Sharon Valley, 
Sackett's Farm to Dover,| showing the intercourse of 
these Dutch families. 

DELAMATERS. 

Capt. Isaac Delamater settled where Samuel Sher- 
man lives previous to 1740. He came here from King- 
ston, Ulster county, where the family had lived several 
generations. His father was Jacob, and his grand- 
father was Claude, who came to America after 1645 and 
before 1650. 

* The old map shows the houses of Jacob Van Camp and Derrick Dutcher near Tly- 
mouth Hill. 

t Historical Address of Hon. Samuel Church, of Salisbury, Conn,, at the Centennial 
Anniversary of that town in 1841. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 23 



They were Huguenots, and like a large portion of 
that excellent people, made their escape from persecu- 
tion* in France, first to Holland, and thence to America, 
and thus became identified in that country and in this 
with the Hollanders. It is a striking fact, and exempli- 
fied in the subsequent chapters of this history, that so 
many of the early settlers of Amenia were brought here 
by their love of freedom. 

Capt. Delamater died April 20, 1775, the very day 
after the battle of Lexington,! and was buried in his 
own field. He was also a magistrate, and though many 
quaint things were said and done by this excentric jus- 
tice, his integrity and good sense were nevej questioned. 
It is an accredited tradition that in judicial cases of im- 
portance he consulted his wife, who sometimes sat by 
his side in court. 

He had been captain of a company of colonial 
troops in the French war, and took special inter- 
est in military affairs, calling the young men of his 
district together to his own house for instruction in 
military art. 

Capt. Delamater was a large land owner, and gave 
farms to his sons. Martin remained at the homestead. 
Benjamin built a stone house north of Horace Reed's. 
John (Honnes) built a mill atLeedsville — the first in the 
town — and also, in 1761, he built the brick house,J now 
the property of Myron B. Benton. Isaac, Jun., lived 
on the farm now owned by Newton Reed, where he 
built a house, which is now a part of the residence of 
the present owner, and which is now the oldest build- 
ing in the town of Amenia. Mr, Delamater owned also 



* It is ref»orded in history that 200,000 French Protestants suffered martyrdom, and 
700,000 -were driven from the kingdom. 

t The house built by Mr. Delamater was of brick, and was burned about 1819. 

J J. M. D. seen on the face of the wall stands for John and Mary Delamater. 



24 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



the farm of Edward E. Cline. John Delamater, of 
Leedsville, was the grandfather of John Delamater, 
M. D., LL. D., who was a distinguished physician and 
surgeon, and who was professor in the medical institu- 
tions of Pittsfield, Mass., Fairfield, N. Y., and Cleveland, 
Ohio. He died in Cleveland in 1867.^' There were sev- 
eral other physicians in the family, t 

Besides the families named above, all of whom emi- 
grated from the North river, there was one Baltus Lot, 
who lived awhile in the north part of this town and on 
the public lands in the town of Sharon, and Adam 
Showerman is mentioned as being about the same time 
in that part of the town. These were supposed to have 
come also from near the Hudson Eiver. 

There were several Dutch families settled on the 
Housatonic in Salisbury previous to this, and before any 
settlements were made there by the New Englanders. 



* Dr. John Delamater's mother was Elizabeth Dorr, a descendant of William Hyde, 
of Norwich, Conn., and consequently is named in that remarkable genealogy, prepared by 
the late Chancellor Reuben Hyde Walworth. 

t Ex-Gov. Todd, of Ohio, is a descendant of John Delamater. Ex-President 
Colfax and Wm. M. Evarts are also members of this family. 



FIRST SETTLERS FROM NEW ENGLAND. 



The first important immigration to these new lanas 
from other parts of New York and from New England 
was not till about 1740. The Nine Partners' land had 
been in market for some time and was sold at first in 
rather laige tracts. The Oblong lots were brought into 
market in 1731 and attracted many immigrants from 
Connecticut and Massachusetts. 

From 1740 to 1750, the immigration was evidently 
large, from the significant fact that about 1750 the pop- 
ulation was sufficient to encourage the people to insti- 
tute public worship in three different places. 

In the journal of Abraham Reinke, one of the Mo- 
ravian missionaries who preached at " Nine Partners 
and Oblong," in 1753, he says : — " The people came 
here five years ago in expectation of bettering their for- 
tunes by the purchase of cheap farms, and for the 



26 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



enjoyment of religious liberty."" This shows that by 
his estimate a considerable portion of the people came 
here about 1748. It also gives a significant intimation 
of the spirit of the people in their jealous regard for 
their religious rights. The opportunity to obtain fruit- 
ful lands at a moderate price was very attractive. The 
better lands were easily cleared and brought immed- 
iate returns. The title w^as assured, and the price was 
moderate.! 

Among the earliest of the first settlers from New 
England were Hezekiah King and Abraham Paine. It 
was somewhat previous to 1740, as Mr. King died in 
1740, and he had built a house a little west of Amenia 
Union, afterward called the " Karner House," 

The house was built in the style prevailing in Con- 
necticut at that time, high in front and very low in the 
rear. The timber was w^iitt; wood, wiiich indicated its 
early stiucture, as all the oldest houses were of that 
timber-t Abraham Paine, of Cimterbury, settled in the 
northern part of the town, as it is, and also Joshua 
Paine, Jehoshaphat Holmes, and Elisha Cleaveland. 
About 1740 Nathan Mead came from Ilorse Neck, or 
Greenwich, tliat hive of the Meads, and purchased 
where the family are still in possession. Stephen 
Kinney from New Preston ',sett]ed[in 1740 near the Sep- 
arate, so called, where his family is still represented. 



* There was not any subjection of the cliurch to the state, which these emigrants fled 
from, but they were jealous of the least interference of the spiritual with the temporal power; 
and their theory cf the entire separation of church anel state is now the theory in every part 
of the United States. The plan of union adopted by the first settlers of Massachusetts was 
expressed by Kev. Mr. Cotton in his letter to Lord Say and Seal. "It is better that the 
Commonwealth be fashioned to the setting forth of God's house, which is his church, than 
to accommodate the church frame to the civil state." These historic facts had so much con- 
nection with the settlement of Amenia that without some reference to them we shall misun- 
derstand one of the essential elements in the social history of this people. 

t The price of new land then was a dollar and a half per acre. In ITfiO it was about 
two dollars and a half per acre. 

X A large number of the first houses built by settlers were commodious structures, 
and of pleasing architectural appearance. There were but few log houses. The white wood 
was very suitable lor building. The two-^to^y house built by Jedidiah Bump was covered 
entirely with siding from one tree. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 27 



Elisba Adams was the first resident in that part of the 
town called Adams' Mills, and the first in the west part 
of Lot 32 of Nine Partners 

Benjamin Hollister from Sharon settled in 1741 near 
Leedsville, where some of his family are in possession. 
Joel Gillett came to the Delavergne farm in 1742. 

Gardiner Gillett lived north of where Hiram Coop- 
er's residence now is, and on a road now discontinued. 
Abner Gillett was here previous to 1748, probably as 
early as 1742. He owned the farm of Geo. D. James. 
About 1742, Capt. Stephen Hopkins, of Hartford, Conn., 
purchased a tract of land about a mile north of the 
present village of Amenin,, and including the land on 
which the Old Ked Meeting House stood. He pur- 
chased the north half of lot 32 of Nine Partners, and 
appears to have purchased the right of Isaac Yanernom 
who had bought of John Salisbury. " There had been 
some improvements made by Salisbury."- Stephen 
Hopkin's house was southwest of the old burying 
ground, and was reached in late years by a lane, and 
was the residence awhile of Henry lugraham. 

Thomas Wheeler came from Woodbury in 1749 to 
lands which are held now by his descendants. Daniel 
and Job Porter came also that year. Simeon Dakin 
from near Boston removed to the north part of the 
town about 1750, and also Bezaleel Eudd, and Spencer. 
Captain David Collin settled on the place now occu- 
pied by his great grandson. John Pennoyer removed 
from Sharon in 1749 to Oblong lot. No. 62. In the 
northwest part of the town Abraham Bockee, from New 
York, settled on land purchased by his father in 1699, 
two years after the purchase of the Nine Partners' tract 

* The dwelling of Salisbury is shown on the old map, mentioned on page 21, though 
the location is not perfectly exact, nor the name. This Salisbury was probably the one re- 
terred to in Judge Church's Historical Address. He was not a land-owner there nor here. 

-4 



28 THE EAKLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

— land now held by his descendant, Phenix Bockee. 
Elijah Kinne was on a farm north of the Cit}'. It was 
a little later than these dates that Isaac Smith and 
others immigrated to that part of the town. 

In the southeast part of the town, some of the ear- 
liest settlers were Davis, Eowley, Bump, Cad}^, Knapp, 
Woolsey, Woolcott, Mitchell, Curtis, Lothrop, Judson, 
Delano, Doty, and others, of whom a part were known 
there only a few years. Those families from Connecti- 
cut and the Cape, who became the permanent residents, 
the Barlows, Swifts, Chamberlains, Keeds, Clines, 
Hitchcocks, and others migrated to their new homes 
here in the years from 1755 to 1769. 

These and the early settlers in the other parts of the 
town, will be noticed in a subsequent part of this work, 
and it will be more convenient for the compiler and for 
the reader to have the names of the families arranged 
in alphabetical order, rather than in the order of the 
date of their settlement. 

The formative period of the town's history was an 
eventful epoch also in the history of the colony. The pop- 
ulation of the colony was rapidly increasing. In 1716, the 
population of Datchess county was 8,800 and in 1756, it 
was 14,148, and the population of the colony of New 
York was 96,765. 

There was Avar between England and France, and 
great activity in the military service, and the men were 
trained by their service in the French war for that na- 
tional struggle which was to come. There was also a 
great agitation of religious questions arising out of the 
revival of religion under the ministry of Edwards and 
others. 



KELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. 



It is evident that a large number of families besides 
these — whose names are given and the date of their im- 
migration — had settled upon these lands, as early as 
1750, as indicated in their institution of public worship 
by several congregations about this tiaie. 

They had come into this newly-opened territory 
without any concert, each family purchasing their land 
independently of the others, and without any previous 
or immediate arrangement for establishing civil or ec- 
clesiastical organizations. In this they were unlike the 
communities in New England, which made their settle- 
ments under the regulations of an organized association, 
civil and religious. Those were a homogeneous people 
and set out at once with all the advantages of a common 
centre and unity in their social life. 

The absence of this municipal unity in the case of 
these immigrants, and the want of any public records 
in the beginning, may readily account for the lack of 
exact dates in their history. 

These immigrants, however, notwithstanding their 
isolation and diversity of origin, soon began to lay the 
foundations of their future welfare when they set up the 



30 THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



institutions of religion, and united in that form of chris- 
tian fellowship, which indicated their love of freedom, 
and which was the model of the then future free institu- 
tions of our country. 

The Republican form of ecclesiastical government, 
adopted by so many of the churches in America, was 
not patterned after the form of the civil government of 
this country, which is much more recent. It seems 
more proper to say that the form of church government 
was the model of our civil government. It is consistent 
with the teachings of history to say that the adoption 
of a republican form of ecclesiastical government by the 
churches at the time of the Eeformation in France, Swit- 
zerland, Holland, Scotland, and partly in England, pre- 
pared tlie people for choosing the same form of gov- 
ernment for the State. 

The germ of American liberty was in the Eeformation. 

THE EED MEETING HOUSE. 

The territory afterwards included in the town of 
Amenia, being geographically divided into three prin- 
cipal valleys, there were three congregations organized 
for public worship, and they were all of the same order, 
Presbyterian,''^ or Congregational. The oldest — so far 
as recorded — of these churches was organized near the 
centre of the town, when in May, 1748, Abraham Painet 
and Gardiner Gillett entered into covenant, " The Lord 
having thus begun to build his church here." In Jul}^, 
1749, ' 'Sixteen souls more were gathered into church 
fellowship." They called the name of the church " Car- 
mel, in the Nine Partners." In 1750, June 14, Abraham 

* The term "Presbyterian" was then orten applied to a Congregational church. 

t Mr. Paine speaks of himself as " Abraham Paine, son of Elisha Paine, of Cauter- 
burj', Conn." There is an account of these families in their alphabetical order. 



THE EARLY HISTORY Or AMENIA. 31 



Paine, Jun., " was set apart to the work of the ministry 
by solemn ordination by laying on the hands of the 
Presbytery, and by the power of the Holy Ghost." The 
ecclesiastical form of the church and the doctrines were 
agreeable to those in New England at that time, and 
the council called for the installation of Mr. Paine were 
from Connecticut. The day of the ordination was ob- 
served with solemn fasting. 

Mr. Paine does not seem to have been educated in 
early life for the ministry, but was invested with the 
office to meet the immediate wants of a newly-organized 
congregation. One of the council at his ordination was 
his father's brother, Rev. Solomon Paine,"' an eminent 
minister of Canterbury, Conn. 

This society was ^instituted at a time when in New 
England the churches were agitated by the fiery zeal of 
the " New Lights," or" ►Separatists," and Mr. Paine, and 
a considerable portion of his church, were affected with 
their notions, which led to some disagreement between 
them and the more conservative of the congregation. 

The Separatists were earnest and conscientious, but 
som-etimes uncharitable and censorious, and their disci- 
pline took cognizance of the thoughts of the heart, 
wdiich were confessed to one another, and were made 
the subject of censure and rebuke.f 

The Separatists, or New Lights, differed from other 
Congregationalists, not in then^ doctrines ; but in their 
claim to have obtained a new spiritual Light, and to 
have reached a higher spiritual Life. A spirit of un- 
charitableness was indulged, and they were accustomed 

* Another brother of his father had been an eminent lawyer, and became a Separa- 
tist minister, aiici subjected himself for his irregularities in preaching to persecution. 

t The record of a council of the church of the Red Meeting- House, at which several 
members were subjected to discipline for various offences, especially " for the indulgence 
of an Antinomian and party spirit," says—" This solemn assemblv continued from Wednes- 
day morning in solemn fasting, lamentation, prayer and confession, from the rising of the 
morning tillthe stars appeared on Saturday night." 



32 THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENTA. 



to denounce ministers and others as Antinomian, and 
unregenerated, and when their views did not govern in 
a church, they were disposed to separate themselves 
from it. In their ecclesiastical government, the Sepa- 
ratist held to that Independency, which the Pilgrims 
contended for when they fled from England to Holland , 
previous to their coming over to Plymouth."^ 

The differences between the Pilgi^ims and the Puri- 
tans, which existed at that time, had not died out in 
New England in 1740, and scarcely now. 

They both held fast to the doctrines of the Tliirty- 
Xine Articles. But the Puritans, hoping for the purify- 
ing of the English church, did not sever their connec- 
tion with it till tliey left for their new home. 

The Separatists were also restive under the subjec- 
tion in New^ England of the church to the civil authori- 
ty, and were prepared to give a high tone to their 
independency in their new home, and to assert the 
rights of individuals and the equality of all men.t 

The house of worship — which was always known as 
the"Eed Meeting House" — was built in 1758. The 
place where it stood is a triangle at the convergence of 
the highwaj^s about a mile northeast of the village of 
Amenia, and near the burying ground. It was a build- 
ing nearly square, two stories, with a gallery on three 
sides, and was seated with square pews. 

This house was built'J: and afterwards repaired partly 

* This is the time when they received the name of " Separatists." 
t One of the King's officers, ia pnrsuit of a deserter liere, in 1761, says of the people 
in Nine Partners that " they are levellers from principle (Doc. Hist., III., ySo)."' 

X The number of those who contributod to the building of the church was seventy-nine 
and the amount contributed was £350-17-4=$S77.17. Of those who contributed to this work 
these names will be recognized. Stephen Hopkins is first with the sum of £20. Joshua 
Paine, Ellas Shevilear, and Benjamin Benedict gave each £13. Samuel King, £9; Jedi- 
diah Dewey and Koswell Hopkins, each £10. Other names are Kobeit Freeman, Abraham 
Paine, Jun., Joab Cook, Grover liuel, Jonathan Shephard, Jun., Samuel Shepard, Nathan 
Mead, Jun., Simeon Cook, John King, Tristram Brown, Noah Hopkins. Michael Hopkins, 
Ichabod Paine, Sen., Ichabod Paine, Jun., Weight Hopkins, Job Mead, Peter Shevilear, 
Barnabas Paine, Robert Willson, John Hindman, and John Brunson. Their paper is dated 
" Nine Partners, Feb. fi, 1758." The site for this edifice was presented by Capt. Stephen 
Hopkins, who also gave the first land for the Burying Ground. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OP AMENIA. 38 

by the contributions of those not strictly adherents of 
the Congregational polity, and was occupied harmon- 
iously in later years by the Congregationalists, Baptists 
and Methodists. 

In 1770, in June, (or July, according to Sedgwick's 
History), the celebrated WJiitefield preached in theEed 
Meeting House to the crowds that followed him from all 
the country round. 

Elder Elijah Wood, a Baptist, was the acceptable 
minister of the congregation several years. 

In the early part of the present century, the three 
denominations gradually became separated, and each 
sustained a separate organization. 

There is no record of a settled pastor after Mr. 
Paine for many years, but there appears to have been 
preaching, stated and occasional, and the ordinances 
were administered by pastors of other churches and 
stated supplies, and there were evidently a large number 
of excellent Christian men connected with this congre- 
gation. 

There was much distraction at the time of the Kevo- 
lutionary war, and afterwards some degree of dissen- 
sion in drawing the Hues between the adherents of this 
church and the other denominations. 

In 1811 this church was connected with the Asso- 
ciated Presbytery of Westchester, and in 1815 with the 
Presbytery of North Kiver. 

In 1815, Kev. Joel Osborn became pastor of the 
church, and gave to it his services one-third of the time, 
which indicates the feebleness to which it was reduced. 
From that period there has been a gradual improve- 
ment. 

THE BAPTIST CHURCH. 

The Baptist Church in Amenia at its organization in 



34 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



1790, appears to have been composed partly of some 
from the old Congregational church and of others who 
had been educated in the Baptist system, and who had 
been members of the Baptist church in Northeast."' 
" On the 5th of May 1790, three brethren related their 
experience and signed the covenant, and on the 12th 
and 19th three more brethren and several sisters united 
with them."t On the 2d of June they chose Reverend 
Elijah Wood for their minister, who, on the 27th of 
June, " administered the ordinance of the Lord's supper 
to them for the first time." 

Mr. Wood had ministered to the Congregational 
church some years, and it does not appear that his 
change of views and his uniting himself with this new 
orfifanization sandered the fraternal relations with the 

o 

brethren of the old church, or lessened their confidence 
in him. We find him invited by the Society's commit- 
tee — Deacon Shevalier, a Baptist, and Deacon Hebard, 
a Congregationalist — to continue his ministrations. 
The jealousy and strife, which after this disturbed the 
two churches, is happily now almost forgotten. 

Eev. Elijah Wood was a native of ISorwich, Conn., 
and went in early life to Bennington, Vt., where he was 
licensed to preach in a Congregational church. From 
Bennington he came to Amenia before the Revolution- 
ary war and was counted among the active patriots. 
He was not a scholar, but was a good student and an 
acceptable preacher. He was sometimes laid aside by 
ill health, but continued to minister till his deatli in 



* The Baptist church in Northeast, at Spencer's Comers, was instituted in 1751 by 
Elder Simon Dakin, who came from the vicinity of Boston, where he had suffered some 
annoyance for his religious principles. Tliis was the second Baptist church organized in 
the colony of New York, and became one of the most important. It was sustained by the 
large and influential family of Winchell's, farmers of enterprise and wealth. 

t The nameT of those Avho first constituted the church were James Palmer, David 
Allerton, Richard Shevalier, Eeuben Hebbard, Jonathan Shepherd, Samuel Paine, Deborah 
Palmer, Jenneti; Allerion, Elizaoeih Holmes, Thankfal Hebbard, and IViary Cook. James 
Palmer was licensed to preach iu 1791. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 35 



1810. At the ordiuatiou of Mr. Wood, Rev. James 
Manning, D. D., President of Brown University, 
preached the sermon. 

In 1816, this church was ^.-reatlj revived and enlarged, 
as were the other churches about that time. Rev. Mr. 
Peck, who was their minister two years, seems to have 
been the successful agent in the prosperity of the church 
though in his memorandum of it he manifests his great 
modesty in referring only very slightly to himself. 

Rev. John Mason Peck was born in Litchfield, South 
Farms, and was trained in the school of industry and 
frugality. He came to Amenia when a young man, and 
although his education was limited, he engaged in 
teaching awhile and then became minister of the church. 
In 1816, he went to Philadelphia to complete his educa- 
tion, and thence to Missouri, where he spent the remain- 
der of his life in preaching and in the cause of higher 
education. 

A pleasing memorial of this excellent man has been 
prepared by Rev. Rufus Babcock, D. D. 

THE METHODISTS. 

The Methodist Society of Amenia, which was one of 
the earliest in this part of the country, seems to have 
been formed in 1788, and numbered eight members,* 
David Rundall being the only male member for several 
years. The first sermon was preached in a private 
house, half a mile east of Sharon Station, and the first 
hymn sung begins " Thou Judge of Quick and Dead.'' 
The meetings were held in that house, or in the neigh- 
borhood, till the settlers from Rhode Island removed 
here — Ward well, the Ingrahams and others — when a 

• These were David Rundall. his wife Catherine, his wife's mother, Ruth Powers, 
wife of Peter, Ruth Powers, wife of Frederick, and three others. 



36 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

society was formed near the Old Red Meeting House. 
It is understood that Mr. Garrettson formed the first 
class but he did not preach the first sermon. Captain 
Allen Wardwell was the first clasr. leader. 

The late Rev. Dr. Wakely called that part of Amenia 
" The Old Methodist Classic Ground." The important 
position of this society at that time may be inferred 
from the fact that the New York Annual Conference was 
held here. It was in 1808, and the sessions were held 
in the Round Top School House, about half a mile 
northeast of the Old Red Meeting House. Rev. Bishop 
Asbury presided and occupied the teacher's chair,''^ with 
the school desk before him, and the preachers sat upon 
the benches of the pupils. On the Sabbath, the Confer- 
ence occupied the Red Meeting House, when the Bishop 
preached. 

One hundred and three preachers were stationed at 
Conference. Ten were admitted on trial, one of whom 
was William Jewett. Fifteen were continued on trial ; 
one of these was Phineas Rice. Eight were ordained 
elders, and one of the eight was Samuel Cochran. 

Some families entertained ten or twelve of the 
preachers, and their horses, and the people were so 
gratified with the Conference that a committee waited 
on them with thanks for holding the session there, and 
invited them to come again. 

The first church edifice of this society was built in 
1812, a short distance east of the residence then of 
Thomas Ingraham, which remained until 1845. The 
New York Conference met in this church in 1813, when 
Bishops Asbury and McKendree presided. 

At this Conference eighty-six preachers were sta- 
tioned — the Conference having been divided since 1808. 

* This chair is preserved as a commemorative relic, 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 37 

At tliis session of the Conference, David Rundall enter- 
tained fourteen of the preachers. 

George and Thomas Ingraham and Frederick Powers 
were pillars in this church for many years, and Peter 
Powers was widely known as an able exhorter and ven- 
erated leader. The first preachers who went out from this 
society were Robert and Elijah Hebarci ; many others 
have followed and the influence of the membership has 
gone into all parts of the land. The Amenia Seminary 
which has accomplished so much for the cause of good 
education, was the result of their enterprise. 

THE CHURCH AT THE CITY. 

Of the church at the City,'"' in the west part of the 
town, there are no very early records. The oldest rec- 
ord now known begins, " The Records of the church of 
Christ in the towns of Amenia, Washington, and Stan- 
ford, Dutchess county, A. D. 1787, commonly known by 
the name of the United Congregational Church of 
Christ in Westfield Society." Then again " April 9, 
1787, A solemn fast was held and two sermons were 
delivered, one by the Rev. John Cornwall, the other by 
the Rev. Blackleach Burritt, after which the following 
persons signed the covenant."t During the year 
1787 thirty-six other names v/ere added. 

This could not have been the first institution of religious 
worship and of the ordinances by that people, as there 
was a house of worship erected there in 1750, which 
gave place to another in 1814, both on the site of the. 

* The "City" received that name, at the tirst settlement of the place, because three 
log houses were built there near each other. 

t Those who flrst signed the covenant in 1787 were Stephen Kinnev, Kobert Willson, 
Timothy Wheeler, Joshua Wells, Jun., John Curtis, Selali AVells, VVm. Bell, Elizabeth 
Willson, Elizabeth Wheeler, Mary Curtis, Rebecca Shumday, Ahijrail Kinney, Anna Elliot, 
Anna Adams, Afterwards, Asa Hollister, Elisha Adams. Kojrer Southerland, Thomas 
Willson, Henry Kinney, Isaac Hunting, Kobert Willson, Jun., Joel Smith, John Slawter, 
Elijah Allen, Benj. Denton, <&c. 



38 THE EAELY HISTORY OF AJ^IENIA. 

present church edifice.^ That so many were ready 
to enter into covenant that year, and that they 
had a name by which they were " commonly known," 
indicate that this was a re-organization, or a more per- 
fect organization of a Christian community. 

In 1812, July 7, "The Society unanimously voted 
that the church give the Rev. Eli Hydef a call to 
preach at the City Meeting-house, Smithfield Society, 
with this proviso, that all proper means be used to 
unite the two societies, and that the meetings be pro- 
portioned at the two houses as they shall agree. 

The other "Society" and "House" refer to the 
Separate Meeting-house and Society,'! which was located 
about two miles south of the City. 

There are no records whatever or tradition that 
shows the origin of that society, or of its name, or the 
reason of any division among this excellent Christian 
people. Perhaps the cause of any strife is now happily 
forgotten. 

It is a reasonable theory, suggested by the name, 
and by a history§ of the times, that a part of the church 
at the City became Separatists, or New Lights, and 
withdrew from the old church, in the early history of 
the congregation, when so many of the churches were 
agitated by that schism. The conservative and safer 
sentiments! of the congregation seems to have prevail- 

* In front of this church edifice was a little grove ofoaks— one of which remains. Un- 
der the shade of this grove a great congregation were assembled, June 20, 1770, and heard a 
sermon by that wonderful preacher, George Whitefield. Every place where he ministered 
seems to have been remembered, and all who heard his discourse rehearsed it to the gene- 
rations that came after them. 

t Ttev. Eli Hyde came to this church from Oxford, Chenango county, N. Y. Rev. Job 
Swift, D.D., afterwards of Bennington, Vt., was minister at the City in 1782. 

X The Separate Meeting-house— now standing— was built some years before the revo- 
lutionary war. Rev. John Cornwall, of Cornwall, Conn., resided near and ministered there 
many years. 

§ See Contemporai-y history, 

II There were in the City congregations a number of families from Long Island and 
other places in New York, who had enjoyed a high degree of culture and religious instruc- 
tion, and who were evidently on the moderate side in those agitations. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 39 



ed pretty sood, and harmony was evidently restored, as 
we find the leading men of both parties associated in 
the interests of the congregations many years previous 
to the final organic naion, 

THE OBLONG SOCIETY. 

The congregation in the Oblong valley was made up 
partly by families living in Connecticut, and the house 
of worship was at Amenia Union, and situated about 
twenty yards west of the colony line, on the hill west of 
E. Lambert's store, on land now owned by Wm. Blith- 
man. It was a capacious building, with pews and gal- 
leries, and with doors on three sides. The roof had 
four sides, which terminated at the top in an ornamental 
cupola, which gave it the name of the " Round Top 
Meeting House." It was built previous to 1755,* and 
in 1786 it was taken down and another erected near 
where the present church edifice of the Society is 
situated. 

The first preaching there, of which there is any 
record, was by a Moravian missionary, as we have seen 
in 1753. He was a German, and was naturally attached 
to the families of his countrymen settled here. 

The congregation was composed of people of very 
diverse origin. Palatines, Huguenots, and Puritans, and 
their pastor was from Scotland. But a common desire 
for the ordinances of the gospel soon united them into a 
well-organized society. 

The church was organized Dec. 11, 1759,t and the 
Rev. Ebenezer Knibloe was installed pastor. 

* Deacon Ebenezer Hamlin, who died in 1755, bequeathed "twenty-four pounds, old 
tenor, towards the worship of God in the neighborhood where I dwell, viz., in or near the 
new-erected meeting-house, on the Oblong, near Sharon (Sedgwick's History.)." 

t In 1859 the congregation of South Amenia held a memorial service in commemora- 
tion of the one hundreth anniversary, and a historical discourse was read. 



40 THE EARLY HISTORY OP AMENIA. 



He was from Scotland, and received his education in 
Edinburgh, and came to this country in 1752. It was 
while he was a student of theology at Edinburgh, that 
the leaders inScotland made that last bold strike in behalf 
of Prince Edward the Pretender, and the battle of 
Preston Plains was fought, which decided the fate of 
that unhappy prince. Mr. Knibloe, with some other 
young men, went out to witness the battle, and thus ex- 
cited the suspicion of the government that he sympa- 
thized with the party of the Prince, which made it 
desirable for him to flee away. 

Mr. Knibloe came to the Oblong from Philips 
Manor, in Putnam county, near " Mr. Kent's Parish.""'^ 

He was pastor of the church at Oblong about six- 
teen years, and the breach of this relation was brought 
about in consequence of his apparent loyalty to the 
British King at the beginning of the Revolutionary war 
■ — an attitude entirely contrary to that of the Presby- 
terian ministers of that day. But the evidence is clearly 
against the suspicion, through his conscientious regard 
to duty, from which he could not be driven, and per- 
haps some tenacity of will, led him to pray in public 
for the King and Royal family, which was sufficient in 
that excited condition of the public mind to raise 
the charge of disloyalty to his adopted country. It 
afterward became the conviction of the people that Mr. 
Knibloe was not disloyal, and from about the end of 
the war till the close of his life in 1785, he continued to 
preach to the acceptance of the people.f 

In answer to the charge of disloyalty, Mr. Knibloe 
says, " When I read the ministerial charge, it was to go 

* The son of Mr.Kent, and the father of Chancellor Kent, was a friend of Mr. Knibloe. 

t The house which Mr. Knibloe built for himself is about half a mile southeast of 
Amenia Union. His sons were John, William, Elijah, and Josei)h. Tlie three first named 
died in tlie great epidemic of 1S12. :Mr. Stephen Knibloe is his grandson. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 41 



forth and preach the gospel of Jesas Christ. I look on 
it that government has nothing to do in the province of 
religion but to guard the empire of truth from every 
persecution, and leave the kingdom of Heaven to its 
own Lord." " I am conscious to mj^self that I have ever 
wished and prayed for the welfare, happiness, liberty, 
and charter privileges of the British colonies in North 
America ; likewise for the deliverance of our distressed 
brethren in Boston, and also for success to attend the 
armament and military preparations, which have already 
gone forth and are about to march in defense of Amer- 
ican liberty." 

This appears to have been written about the time of 
the battle of Bunker Hill, when all eyes were turned 
towards Boston. 

While the British army held New York, the distin- 
guished Dr. John Eodgers, pastor of a Presbyterian 
church there, left the city, as many others did, and found 
a safe retreat in the country.^ He came here in 1778, 
and ministered to the people about two years. He was 
regarded with the highest respect by the people and his 
influence was in the highest degree salutary. His biog- 
rapher says that " through the influences of his minis- 
trations in Amenia the congregation was greatly bene- 
fitted and improved and the former harmony restored." 
The Kev. Dr. Livingston also spent some time with the 
congregation during the war ; also Kev. David Rose,t 
who was pastor of a Presbyterian church on Long 
Island. 

The names of about a hundred and sixty heads of 
families are recorded, most of whom were parishioners^ 

* There was no more safe retreat than this, nor any place in the land more complete- 
ly out of the way of the disturbing effects of the war. 

t Rev. David Rose was a graduate of Yale. 

t The first deacons in Mr. Knibloe's church were Samuel Waterman and Meltiah 
Lothrop. Thomas Delano was elected in 1772, and Moses Barlow in 1775. 



42 THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



of Mr. Knibloe, which indicates a population^ nearly 
equal to the present in the same limits. The number 
of marriages by Mr. Knibloe was 320, and the number 
of baptisms was 581 — delightful testimonies to the 
prosperity of that generation. 

These are some of the members of Mr. Knibloe's 
church : — Alexander Spencer, Elhs Doty, Joseph Cham- 
berlain, and his wife, Abigail, Meltiah Lothrop, Daniel 
Eowley, Silas Belding, and his wife, Samuel Waterman, 
and his wife, Isaac Hamlin, and his wife, Benjamin 
Hollister, and wife, Benjamin Hollister, Jun., and wife, 
Daniel Castle, and wife, E-zra Reed, and wife, James 
Reed, Elijah Reed, and wife, Reuben Swift, Stephen 
Warren, and wife, Colbe Chamberlain, and wife;. ]?^ses 
BarTc)w, and wife, Eliakim Reed, and wife, Margaret 
Chamberlain, Priscilla Lovel, Jediah Bumpas, Hannah 
Swift, Dorcas Belding, Joanna Barlow, and many 
others. 

The leading members of the Society in 1786, when 
they removed and rebuilt the church edifice, and in 1796, 
when they purchased the Parsonage Farm,t were these, 
James Reed, Moses Barlow, Walter Lothrop, Stephen 
Warren, Gideon Castle, Eliakim Reed, Elisha, Barlow, 
Seth Swift, Moses Swift, Benjamin Delamater, Conrad 
Row, Samuel Row, Nicholas Row, Oliver Kellogg, 
Elisha Tobey, Ebenezer Hatch, Reuben Allerton, John 
Cline, John Boyd, Amariah Winchester, Amariah Hitch- 
cock, Sylvanus Nye, William Young, Samuel Hitchcock, 
Ezekiel Sackett, Martin Delamater, Gershom Reed, 
Jedidiah Bump, and Azariah Judson. 

The condition of the congregation, so many years, 

* The population of Amen ia in 1790 was 3,078. 

t In 1796 the Society bought the farm of Eliphalet Everett— the west part of J. H. 
Cline's farm— KJO acres, for a parsonage, for which they paid £600— SlGiiO. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 43 

affirms the testimony to the value of a pious, learned, 
and stable iDinistrr. 

After the close of the Kevolution, there was evi- 
dently a decline of religion in this congregation, as in 
the others of the town, and perhaps from the same 
causes, which seemed to be the distracting spirit of the 
times ; and not till about 1812 was there the beginning 
of a return to prosperity in these churches.^ 

After the death of Mr. Knibloe, several ministers 
were employed temporarily, and for short periods, till 
1802, when Eev. John Barnet, A. M., was engaged for 
an indefinite time, and his ministry was acceptably con- 
tinued till 1812, the time of his service including 1802 
and 1812. 

Mr. Barnet was a native of Simsbury,Conn., and was a 
graduate of Yale College, where he was, after the war, 
a tutor. He was a thorough scholar, and a succesful 
teacher of young men, many of whom he had under his 
instruction while in Amenia.t 

In the revolutionary war, Mr. Barnet was a chaplain,' 
first in Col. Hopkin's regiment of Amenia at Saratoga, 
and afterwards in the regular army, where he was highly 
regarded by Washington. 

Mr. Barnet's preaching was didactic and logical, 
rather than practical ; instructive to a certain class, but 
not effective with the many. It was unfortunate for the 
congregation that he did not consider himself their pas- 
tor, but only a hired preacher, and, consequently, he 
omitted those services of a pastor, which are essential 
to the highest success of the ministry. 

* V^^.l^ '.^ '" ^^''^^^ societies, as in all other agricultural communities, a serious de- 
crease of attendants upon puhlic worship, owing to ageneral decrease of rural popu'ation, 
particularly of the native laboring people, M'hose place is filled bv foreigners of opposite 
religious attachments. . c yy ^ 

t Among the pupils of Mr. Barnet in Amenia were Abraham Bockee, Allen Hollister 
terleel-ish, and several sons of Hon. Ambrose Spencer. Mrs. Barnet was a sister of 
Judge Spencer. Mr. Barnet died at the residence of his son in Greene county in 1837. 

*6 



44 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

A Fourth of July oration by Mr. Barnet in 1812 was 
published ; also a funeral sermon for Ambrose Spencer, 
Jun., who was killed at the battle of Lundy's Lane. 
Capt. Spencer had been a pupil of Mr. Barnet in Amenia, 
and though very young, was aid to Gen. Brown when 
mortally wounded July 25, 1814. 

In 1815, the scattered remains of the old church 
were gathered together, and with considerable additions 
a reorganization was effected. Bev- Joel Osborn became 
the pastor, and from that time there has been a regular 
succession of settled pastors to the present. 



CIVIL OEGANIZATION. 



The " Precinct " of Amenia was formed by an act 
of the Colonial Legislature, March 20, 1762. The geo- 
graphical limits were the same also of the " town " of 
Amenia, which was formed March 7, 1788, and continued 
the same till March 26, 1823, when the towns of Amenia 
and Northeast were so reorganized as to change the 
boundary between them as it is at present. This terri. 
tory had been a part of Crum Elbow Precinct,^ and was 
about twelve miles in length, and of an average width 
of four and a half miles. 

The name Amenia was first used about the time of 
the organization of the Precinct, and owes its origint to 
Dr. Thomas Young, a learned gentleman who resided 



* The municipal regulations of a precinct were nearly the same as of a town. At 
the first Precinct meetinj^, " It was resolved that the thanks of this meeting be given to 
Robert Livingston and Henr3' Livingston, for their favor and regard to the Precinct of 
Amenia in procuring a division of the same,"— that is a separation from the larger precinct. 
Crum Elbow Precinct extended from tlie Hudson Kiver to the Connecticut line. Charlotte 
Precinct was west of Amenia. Crum. or Krom, seems to have been the name of a family 
in the west part of the Precinct. Crum Elbow (" Crom Ebogh ") Ci'eek enters the Hudson 
there. 

t The name is from a Latin word, which signifies pleasant. "Amcena, Pleasant. 
De locis prfficipue dicitur."— applied prmcipally to places. Though so suitable a name, and 
agreeable, it had not been given to any other town in the country. 



46 THE EAKLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

several years at Amenia Union, where he had married a 
daughter of Capt. Garret Winegar. 

Hon. Egbert Benson, in a Memoir read before the 
N. Y. Historical Society,^ in 1816, says "Vermont — 
green monntains — and the town of Amenia — pleasant — 
owe their names to the fancy of Young, the poet. I 
mean the American, and not the English Young. He 
had a peculiar facility in making English words from 
Latin ones." 

Dr. Young was the author of a poem,t called " The 
Conquest of Quebec," in which he gives an account of 
the provincial troops that were sent from the several 
towns to aid in that campaign under Wolfe, which re- 
sulted in the capture of Quebec. He was the friend of 
Ethan Allen,t who resided in Salisbury ,§ Conn., while 
the former resided in Amenia, and they were often to- 
gether, and they were also in sympathy in the violence 
of their patriotism and in their religious unbelief. 

FIRST TOTVN MEETING. 

The record of the first town meetiug is this : — "At 
the Annual Town Meeting of the Freeholders and In- 
habitants of the Precinct of Amenia, on the first Tues- 
day of April, Anno Domini 1762, at the housell of Ros- 

* p. 126, N. y. Hist. Collection, Vol. ii. 

t Only a few lines of the poem are now known. 

% " Appendix to Early History of Vermont" says of Young. "He was hifrhly distin- 
guished as a philji^opher, phil.inthropist and patri it, and for his erudition and brilliancy of 
imagination, i)r. Young is supposed to have died lu Pliiladelpliia in 1777, leaving in Amer- 
ica two accomplished daughters. 

§ Ethan Allen was one of the three men who built the first blast furnace in Salisbury. 

i| The place of the first Town Meeting, and of the subsequent Town Meetings for 

, * many years, was near where the Old Meeting House stood. The house of Roswell Hopkins 

' V. stood near the Meeting House. The residence of his father, Capt. Stephen Hopkins, who 

\ ' [L ^^^ ^^^' ^"^^^ Supervisor, was further south towards the fair grounds, and was in later 

^ I ^ years reached by a lane from the highway. Mr. Henry Ingraham resided there several 

years. The Totten house, where W. P. Perlee lived, was built by one of the sons of Capt. 

Stephen Hopkins. The Town Meeting was held at Capt. Abiah Palmer's first in 1789. There 

.a^jlJ^ was no highwa}' east from Amenia. Where the turnpike now runs there was a swamp. 

There was a road running east and west across the hill north of Hiram Cooper's. 



THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 47 

well Hopkins, Esq., Michael Hopkins was chosen Clerk 
of said Precinct, and Capt. Stephen Hopkins was chosen 
Supervisor. 

Samuel Dotj and Jonathan Eejnolds were chosen 
Assessors for the year ensuing. 

Benjamin Benedict, Abraham Paine, and Moses 
Barlow were chosen Overseers of the Poor. 

Conrad Winegar was chosen Collector and Constable. 

Samuel Shepherd, Kufus Herrick, and Ichabod 
Rogers were chosen Constables. 

Thomas Wolcott and Jonathan Reynolds were chosen 
Pound Keepers. 

Captain Stephen Hopkins and Samuel King were 
chosen to take Inventories of Intestate Estates for the 
3'ear ensuing. 

Miles Washburn, Benjamin Benedict, and Roswell 
Hopkins were chosen Fence Yiewers for the year 
ensuing. 

Thomas Wolcott, John Beebe, Joseph Pennoyer, 
Philip Pitts, Samuel Shepherd, William Barker, William 
Roberts, Edmund Perlee, Moses Harris and Job Milk 
were chosen Overseers of Highways. 

Also voted that a Fence, four feet and four inches 
high, well-wrought and substantial, shall be deemed 
lawful." 

In 1763, Edmund Perlee was chosen Supervisor. 

In 1764, 1765 and 1766, Stephen Hopkins was chosen 
Supervisor. 

In 1767, Edmund Perlee was chosen. 

In 1768 and 1769, Ephraim Paine was Supervisor. 

In 1770, Abraham Bockee was chosen Moderator of 
the Town Meeting and Ephraim Paine was chosen 
Supervisor, and continued to 1776. 

In 1776, Silas Marsh was chosen Supervisor, and in 



48 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

1777 and 1778, Eoswell Hopkins. In 1779 and 1780, 
Dr. Jolm Chamberlain. In 1781, Coi. Colbe Chamber- 
lain. In 1782 and 1783, Ephraim Paine. In 1784, 
Isaac D arrow was Supervisor. 

Michael Hopkins was Town Clerk till 1773, when 
Koswell Hopkins was chosen and continued till 1784. 

Capt. Stephen Hopkins and Samuel King continued 
to take Inventories of Intestate Estates for several 
years. 

The Justices of the Peace— from the Crown, of 
course — were Abraham Boka, Ephraim Paine, Eoswell 
Hopkins, and Conrad Winegar. 

In 1772, Ezra Keed, Job Milk, and Elijah Wheeler 
were chosen Overseers of the Poor, " and are to serve 
for nothing." 

CIVIL LIST. 

The following named citizens of Amenia have served 
in various official positions. 

Ephraim Paine was Deputy to the First New York 
Provincial Congress in 1775.'^ 

Jacob Evertson was a Deputy to the N. Y. Provin- 
cial Congress in 1776. 

Ephraim Paine was a delegate in Congresst under 
the Articles of Confederation in 1784. 

Ephraim Paine was a member of the N. Y. Senate 
from Middle District in 1779, 1780, 1782, 1784 and 1785. 

Eeuben Hopkins, a native of Amenia, was a member 
of N. Y. Senate from Middle District from 1794 to 1797. 

Elisha Barlow was a member of N. Y. Senate from 
Middle District:}: from 1807 to 1810. 

* This Provincial Congress Convened in New York May 2-3, 1775, and adjourned Nov. 
4, 1775. Col. Anthony Hoffman, Gilbert Livingston, and Richard Montgomery were among 
the delegates from i)utchess county. 

t The number of delegates in that Congress from this State were seven. Of these 
were Egbert Benson, John Jay, &c. 

J The Middle District was composed cf Dutchess, Orange, and Ulster counties. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENTA. 49 



Abraham Bockee was a member of N. Y. Senate 
from 1842 to 1845. 

Abiah W. Palmer was a member of N. Y. Senate 
1868-69 and 1872-73. 

Edmund Perlee was a member of the Constitutional 
Convention of 1801. 

Elisha Barlow was a member of the Constitutional 
Convention of 1821. 

Members of Assembly of State of New York 
FROM Amenlv. 

Brinton Paine, 1775-81 and 1785-87. 
Abraham Paine 1781-82. 
Barnabas Paine, 1793. 
James Bockee, 1794. 
Jacob Bockee, 1795-97. 
Wm.Barker, 1798, 1800. 
Piatt Smith, 1798-99. 
Elisha Barlow, 1800, 1802. 
Benajah Thompson, 1804, 1808, 1809. 
Benjamin Herrick, 1806. 
'^ Cjrenus Crosby, 1808. 
Alexander Neely, 1810-11. 
Joel Benton, 1814, '15, 17, and '31. 
Isaac Smith, 1816. 
Abraham Bockee, 1820. 
Taber Belden, 1828, '37. 
Joel Brown, 1833. 

Henry Conklin, 1833, '34, '39 and '40. 
John K. Mead, 1844. 
Amos Bryant, 1840. 
Walter Sherman, 1845, '47. 
James Hammond, 1848-49. 
Wm. H. Bostwick, 1854. 
Abiah W. Palmer, 1860 



50 THE EABLY HISTORY OF AMELIA. 



OTHER OFFICES HELD BY CITIZENS OF AMENIA. 

Epliraim Paine was appointed First Judge of Dutch- 
ess county in 1778, which was also the first appoint- 
ment to the office of Judge in Dutchess county after the 
organization of the government of the State of New 
York. 

Abraham Bockee was appointed First Judge of 
Dutchess county in 1846. 

Elisha Barlow was one of the Judges of the County 
Court in 1808. 

Abraham Bockee was Member of the U. S. Congress 
in 1829-31 and 1833 37. 

Ebenezer Nye was Surrogate of Dutchess county in 
1821. 

John Brush was Surrogate in 1819. 

E. M. Swift was District Attorney in 1843, and B. 
Piatt Carpenter in 1858. 

Thomas N. Perry was Sheriff in 1840, and Judah 
Swift in 1861. 

Jacob B. Carpenter was Presidential Elector in 1861. 

Hon. William H. Leonard, son of Dr. Leonard, and 
a native of Amenia, was elected one of the Judges of 
the Supreme Court in 1859, and was afterwards one of 
the Judges of the Court of Appeals, and was also Com- 
missioner of the Court of Appeals. 

Hon. George G. Reynolds, of Amenia, is now, 1875, 
serving as one of the Judges of the City Court of 
Brooklyn. 

Hon. William I. Cornwall, of Cayuga county, son of 
Eden Cornwall, and grandson of Eev. John Cornwall, 
has been several times Member of the Assembly and of 
the Senate. 



THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 



In the war of the Revohition the p'-^triotism of the 
citizens of Ameuia was expressed with promptness and 
ahiiost entire unanimity. On the 29th of April 1775, 
only ten days after the battle of Lexington, a meeting 
was held in the city of New York of those ready to 
oppose the oppressive acts of the British government. 
An Association was formed and a Pledge adopted, which 
was sent for signatures into every county of the State. 

THE PLEDGE. 

" Persuaded that the salvation of the rights and lib- 
erties of America depend, under God, on the firm union 
of its inhabitants in a vigorous prosecution of the 
measures necessary for its safety, and convinced of the 
necessity of preventing anarchy and confusion which 
attend a dissolution of the powers of government, We, 
the Freemen, Freeholders, and Inhabitants of Amenia, 
being greatly alarmed at the avowed design of the Min- 
istry to raise a revenue in America, and shocked by the 

-7 



THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



bloody scene now acting in Massachusetts Bay, do in 
the most solemn manner resolve never to become slaves, 
and do associate, under all the ties of religion, honor, 
and love to our country, to adopt and endeavor to carry 
into execution whatsoever measures may be recom- 
mended b3^ the Continental Congress, or resolved upon 
by our Provincial Convention, for the purpose of pre- 
serving our constitution and of opposing the several 
arbitrary acts of the British Parliament, until a recon- 
ciliation between Great Britain and America, on consti- 
tutional principles (which we most ardently desire) can 
be obtained ; and that we will in ail things follow the 
advice of our General Committee respecting the pur- 
poses aforesaid, the preservation oi peace and good 
order and the safety of individuals and property." 

This Pledge of the " Association " was presented to 
the citizens of Amenia for their signatures in June and 
July of 1775, by Roswell Hopkins, Samuel King, and 
Silas Marsh, a committee appointed for that purpose, 
and four hundred and twenty subscribed to the pledge, 
and only six delayed or refused to sign. 

Those who persisted in refusing to sign were Joel 
Harvey, Philip Row, Samuel Dunham, Judah Swift and 
Peter Slason.^ 

The qualifications in their subscription to the pledge 
by three of the justices of the peace of the town, shows 
a scrupulous conscientiousness rather than any want of 
patriotism ; and their regard for their oath of office 
rather gives a serious emphasis to their act. Isaac 
Smith subscribed with this limitation, '' I do agree to 
the above Association so far that it doth not interfere 

* Mr. Slason never accepted the situation. He lived in Sonth Amenia near his 
brother-in-law, Capt. Wm. Chamberlain, and after the war, when the pole was raised in 
that part of the town, crowned with the cap of liberty, Mr. Slason was brought to it with a 
rope around his neck and required to confess his loyalty. He kneeled down before this 
emblem of the nation's freedom and cried out " Great art thou, Baal." 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 53 



with the oath of my office, nor mj allegiance to the 
King.— Isaac Smith." Abraham Bockee made this 
qualification " Not to infringe on my oaths. — Abraham 
Bockee." 

John Garnsey refused at first, and afterwards gave 
this declaration.-—" June 8, 1775. This may certify to 
all people whom it may concern that I, the subscriber, 
am willing to do what is just and right to secure the 
^ privileges of America, both civil and sacred, and to fol- 
low the advice of our reverend Congress, so far as they 
do the Word of God and the example of Jesus Christ, 
and I hope, in the grace of God, no more will be re- 
quired. As witness my hand. John Garnsey. 

This stern old Puritan distinctly asserted the prin- 
ciples of the " higher law," and he was not less heroic 
in asserting the rights of men. 

Those who signed the Pledge of the Association 
were called " Associators,"^and the subscription to the 
Pledge was pressed upon individuals — with a degree 
of rigor, perhaps, sometimes — as a test of their loyalty.f 

A Committee of Safety was appointed here as in 
other towns in the country. Besides those already 
mentioned, Capt. Wm. Chamberlain, in the east part of 
the town, was very active. The vigilance of the Com- 
mittee was particularly directed to the movements of 
the Tories, or those suspected of a want of loyalty to 
the country, and any hesitation in signing the pledge 
was the occasion of suspicion and accusation awhile, to 
the disturbance of society, and the violent zeal of some 
of the leaders led them to rebuke the moderation of 
others who were equally steadfast in their patriotism. 
It is quite probable that some may have been brought 

* The list was sometimes called the " Roll of Honor." 

t Mr. Marsh, in his return of names to the committee, says " I am compelled to re- 
mind yon of James Smith— out of my limits— who is notoriously wicked." 



54 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



to a decision by the prompt and vigorous measures of 
the Committee. It became evident, however, that a 
most remarkable unanimity of loyal sentiment prevailed 
in the town, while in many other towns of the county a 
very large number were openly hostile to the action of 
the patriots. 

A rude prison, constructed of logs, was used for con- 
fining tories and any other suspected persons. This 
was built about half a mile east of the present village of 
Amenia* and north of where the turnpike now runs. 
The remains of this prison w^ere there a few years ago. 

THE CENTENNIAL. 

The returning Centennial of each important act in 
the great drama of the Revolution is now celebrated 
with appropriate ceremonies, that there may be kept 
alive in the minds of all the people a just estimate of 
the work of their fathers, and of the principles which 
were asserted at such a cost. It is now just a hundred 
years since the citizens of Amenia by this subscription 
put their hand to the work of the Revolution ; and we 
are, at this distance of time, better able to estimate the 
character of that important act. 

It is certain that a very large proportion of those 
who joined in the pledge w^ere well informed on the 
questions at issue and knew the serious nature of their 
action. This is intimated by the religious regard they 
had to their oaths. The civil and religious rights of 
individuals and the limits of state authority had been 
subjects of their study all their lives.t Persecution had 

* The reader will bear in mimd that there was no village where Amenia now is , no 
highway Avhere the turnpike now i-uns, and that the centi-al place of public business of the 
town was by the lied Meeting House, near the burying ground. 

t Tt is recommended by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church that a me- 
morial discourse be preached in every Presbyterian church on the Sabbath preceding the 
4th of July, 1876, to preserve the history of that church, and to commemorate the patriotism 
of the ministers and christian people of the Revolution. A large number of these membei's 
of the patriotic league were members of the christian societies otthe tOAvn. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENTA. 55 

driven some of them from homes in the old country, and 
others, who had come out of New England, had been 
educated to a very jealous sense of personal responsi- 
bility and personal rights. They were not led in haste 
by any political faction to rash excitement. They un- 
derstood the central truth of the Kevolution, — that it 
luxis not rebellion, but a positive assertion vf rights luJiich 
they h%d always justly held, and a determined resistance to 
neivly -imposed bonds. 

It is not any less to the honor of their patriotic vir- 
tue and courage that they did not foresee the greatness 
of the end of this incipient act ; that, with the great 
leaders of the people, in the beginning of the contest, 
" They builded wiser than they knew." 

ROLL OF HONOR. 

Names of the Citizens of Amenia luho subscribed the 
Fledge, 

The names of those patriotic citizens, who did not 
hesitate to show their hands in this serious crisis, are 
fortunately preserved and are recorded now, as a fit 
memorial of their loyalty and courage, which will be 
regarded with just pride by those who recognize in 
these names those of their ancestors and relatives, and 
former citizens of Amenia. 

More than three hundred of these names are men- 
tioned in other records of the town, or are known as 
belonging to families then residents. One hundred and 
fifty of these, or more, were indeijendent, separate land- 
holders. 

Several of the patriots must have been absent. 
Ephraim Paine was attending the Provincial Congress. 
Benjamin and Waight Hopkins had already gone with 



56 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



Ethan Allen. Keuben Hopkins, elacob Bockee, and 
some others, who are known to have been true, are not 
mentioned. 

The number of names given with those added which 
are known, making 435, gives some intimation of the 
population of the town at that time. 

The present spelling of the names of families is 
adopted, as the manuscript in many cases seems to 
have been very uncertain. 



Thomas Ackley, 
Abraham Adams, 
Abraham Adams, Jun., 
Elisha Adams, 
Jonas Adams, 
Joseph Adams, 
William Adams, 
Jonathan Allerton, 
James Allen, 
James Allsworth, Jun., 
William Allsworth,, 
Solomon Armstrong, 
Cornelius Atherton, 
Benjamin At water, 
John Atwater, 
Levi Atwater, 
Joseph Backus, 
James Barker, 
William Barker, 
Elisha Barlow, 
Moses Barlow, 
Nathan Barlow, 
Henry Barnes, 
Josiah Barnes, 
James Barnet, 
John Barnet, 
John Barnet, Jun., 
Daniel Barry, 
John Barton, 
John Barry, 



James Beadle, 
Elisha Beardsley, 
John Benedict, 
Samuel Benedict, 
John Benson, 
Joseph Benson, 
Ebenezer Besse, 
Elias Besse, 
Ephraim Besse, 
James Betts, 
Daniel Blakely, 
William Blunt, 
Abraham Bockee, 
John Boya, 
Jared Brace, 
Edmund Bramhall, 
David Brewster, 
Ellis Briggs, 
Benjamin Brown, 
David Brown, 
Moses Brown, 
Zedekiah Brown, 
John Brusan, Jun., 
^John Bronson, 
Lemuel Brush, 
Richard Brush, 
William Brush, 
Ezra Bryan, 
Israel Buck, 
Jonathan Buck, 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



57 



Zadock Buck, 
Grover Buel, 
Grover Buel, Jun., 
Jedidiab Bump, 
Eli Burton, 
Jsaac Burton, 
Isaac Burton, Jun., 
Judah Burton, 
Ebenezer Carter, 
Daniel Carter, 
Gideon Castle, 
Colbe Chamberlain. 
John Chamberlain, 
William Chamberlain, 
Increase Child, 
James Chapman, 
Jeremiah Chapman, 
Ezra Cleaveland, 
Josiah Cleaveland, 
John Cline, 
Peter Cline, 
Led. Ch. (?) 
David Collin, 
John Collin, 
Barnabas Cole, 
John Connor, 
Joab Cook, 
Simeon Cook, 
Simeon Cook, Jun., 
Nathaniel Cook, 
Samuel Cornwall, 
Thomas Cornwall, 
William Cornwall, 
John Coe, 
Jabez Crippen, 
Benjamin Crippen, 
Benjamin Crofut, 
Enoch Crosby, 
John Curry, 
Elijah Darley, 
Mahew Dagget, Jun., 



^. Caleb Dakin, 

Isaac Darrow, 

Daniel Davidson, 

Squire Davis, 

Isaac Delamater, 

John Delamater, 

Martin Delamater, 

Benjamin Delano, 

Stephen Delano, 

Joseph Delavergne, 

Lewis Delavergne, 
\^ohn Denny, Jun., 

Abraham Denton, 

Benjamin Denton, 

John Denton, 

Benjamin Denton, Jun., 

Joel Denton, 

Gabriel Dickinson, 

Yersal Dickinson, 

James Dickson, 

Samuel Dodge, 

John Dunham, 

Nehemiah Dunham, 

Samuel Dunham, Jr., 

Seth Dunham, 

Benjamin Doty, 

David Doty. 

Joseph Doty, 

Eeuben Doty, 

Jacob Dorman, 

John Douglass, 

John Drake, 

Jacob Elliot, 

Archibald Farr, 

John Farr, 

Albert Finch, 

William Finch, 

Jonathan Fish, 

Asa Fort, 

Ephraim Ford, 

James Ford, 



58 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



John Ford, 
William Ford, 
Natbaoiel Foster, 
Joseph Fowler, 
BeDJamin Fowler, 
Elijah Freeman, 
John Freeman, 
Robert Freeman, 
Eobert Freeman, Jun., 
Abraham French, 
John Furman, 
Thomas Ganong, 
Daniel Garnsey, 
John Garnsey, 
John Gates, 
Nathaniel Gates, Jan., 
Gerard Gates, 
Stephen Gates, 
Nathaniel Gates, 
Abner Gillett, 
David Gillett, 
Gardner Gillett, 
Joseph Gillett, 
Moses Gillett, 
Barnabas Gillett, 
Eleazar Gillson, 
Jeduthaw Gray, 
Joseph Gray, 
Samuel Gray, 
Joseph Green, 
Timothy Green, 
William Hall, 
Richard Hamilton, 
Jason Hammond, 
Sylvester Handly, 
Daniel Harvey, 
Obed Harvey, 
Obed Harvey, Jun., 
Moses Harris, Jun., 
Samuel Hart, 
Abel Hebard, 



James Hebard, 
Robert Hebard, 
Benjamin Herrick, 
Benjamin Herrick, Jun., 
Samuel Herrick, 
Stephen Herrick, 
Stephen Herrick, Jun., 
Nathan Herrick, 
Rufus Herrick, 
William Herrick, 
Abner Holmes, 
Elijah Holmes, 
Benjamin Holmes, 
Ichabod Holmes, 
John Hoboes, 
Samuel Holmes, 
Benjamin HoUister, 
Samuel Hollister. 
Noah Hopkins, 
Roswell Hopkins, 
Asa Hudson, 
William Hunt, 
Jonathan Hunter, 
John Howard, 
Samuel Jarvis, 
Benjamin Johns, 
Ezekiel Johnson, 
Paul Johnson, 
Robert Johnson, 
Samuel Johnson, 
Eben Johnson, 
John Jones, 
Samuel Judson, 
Heath Kelly, 
Simeon Kelsey, 
Joel Ketchum, 
Samuel King, 
Samuel King, Jun., 
William King 
Elijah Kinney, 
Ebenezer Kinney, 



THE EARLY HISTOK^ OF AMENIA,. 



59 



Jesse Kinney, 
Stephen Kinney, 
William Knapp, 
Zadock Knapp, 
Ebenezer Larabe, 
Richard Larabe, 
Joshua Lasell, 
Daniel Lamb, 
David Lamb, 
Isaac Lamb, 
Thiel Lamb. 
Ebenezer Latimer, 
EHsha Latimer, 
Thomas Lawrence, 
Theophilus Lockwood, 
Walter Lothrop, 
John Lloyd, 
Isaac Marks, 
Isaiah Marsh, 
Silas Marsh, 
William McCullough, 
Daniel May, 
Levi Maiiew, 
Thaddeus Manning. 
Obed Matthews, 
Benjamin Maxam, 
John McNeil, 
Ebenezer Mayo, 
Elijah Mayo,' 
James Mead, 
John Mead, 
Job Mead, 
King Mead, 
Lsaiah Mead, 
John Mears, 
x\bel Merchant, 
John Merchant, 
Job Milk, 
Wright Millman, 
William Mitchell, 
Eleazer Morton, 



William Moulton. 
Thomas Morey, 
John Mordack, 
Peter Morse, 
Abial Mott, 
Thomas Mygatt, 
Sylvan us JNye, 
Levi Orton, 
John Osboru, 
Isaac Osborn, 
Josiah Osborn, 
Owen Osterhout, 
James Palmer, 
Samuel Palmer, 
Nathan Palmer, 
xA-braham Paine, 
Barnabas Paine, 
Brinton Paine, 
David Paine, 
Elihu Paine, 
Barnabas Paine, Jun. 
Ichabod Paine, 
Ichabod Paine, Jun., 
James Paine, 
Joseph Pennoyer, 
Amos Pennoyer, 
Ebenezer Park, 
Isaac Park, 
Edmund Perlee, 
Robert Patrick, 
Jonathan Pike, 
Nathaniel Piniiey, 
Jacob Powers. 
Joest Powers, 
Peter Probasco, 
Thorn Pudney, 
Monmouth Purdy, 
Elijah Porter, 
David Randle, 
Eliakim Reed, Jun., 
Elijah Reed, 



60 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



Ezra Keed, 
Gershom Keed, 
James Keed, 
Silas Keed, 
Simeon Keed, 
Jacob Reynolds. 
Stephen Reynolds, 
William Reynolds, 
Ichabod Kodgers, 
Ichabod Rodgers, Jun., 
William Roberts, 
Silas Roe, 
Elijah Roe, 
Garnet Row, 
Nicholas Row, 
James B. Row, 
Bezaleel Rudd, 
Zebulon Rudd, 
David Rundall, 
Jared Rundall, 
Ezra St. John, 
Ezekiel Sackett, 
John Sackett, 
John Sackett, Jun., 
Richard Sackett, 
Benjamin Sage, 
Daniel Sage, 
Rufus Seaton, 
Abner Shevalier, 
Elias Shevalier, 
Peter Shevalier, 
Richard Shevalier, 
Solomon Shevalier, 
Asahel Sherwood, 
Parrock Sherwood, 
Daniel Shepard, 
Israel Shepard, 
Jonathan Shepard, 
Samuel Shepard, 
John Seymour, 
John Scott, ^ 

/ 



Lemuel Shurtliff, 
Abraham Slocum, 
George Sornborger, 
Frederick Sornborger, 
Samuel Southworth, 
Elijah Smith, 
Elijah Smith, Jun., 
Isaac Smith, 
Jesse Smith, Jun. , 
Piatt Smith, 
Thomas Smith, 
James Smith, Jun., 
Joseph Smith, 
Samuel Snyder, 
Jacob Spicer, 
Nathan Spicer, 
Elnathan Spalding, 
Andrew Stevens, 
Elkanah Stevens, 
Lot Swift, 
Nathaniel Swift, 
Samuel Swift, 
Seth Swift, 
Bowers Slason, 
Matthew Stevens, 
Joshua Talent, 
John Thayer, 
Beriah Thomas, 
Thomas Thomas, 
Samuel Thompson, 
Samuel Thompson, Jun. , 
Ezra Thornton, 
Joel Thurston, 
John Thurston, 
Timothy Tillson, 
Shubal Tyler, 
John Torner, 
Seeley Trowbridge, 
David Truesdel, 
Adin Tubs, 
Benjamin Vaun, 



THE EARLY HISTORY OP AMENIA. 



61 



Matthew Van Deusen, 
William Young, 
Elijah Wood, 
Robert Wood, 
Stephen Warren, 
Daniel Washburn, 
Joel Washburn, 
David Waters, 
Samuel Waters, 
Daniel Webster, 
Thomas Welch, 
Josiah Wells, 
Samuel West, 
Noah Wheeler, 
Seth Wheeler, 
Solomon Wheeler, 
Simon Whitcomb, 



Josiah Wells, 
Gilbert Willet, 
Josiah Williams, 
Justus Willson, 
Reuben Willson, 
Robert Willson, 
Lawrence Wiltsey, 
William Wiltsey, 
Ashbel Winegar, 
Conrad Winegar, 
Garret Winegar, 
Henry Winegar, 
Henry Winegar, (2) 
Samuel Winegar, 
Dier Woodworth, 
William Wynans, Jun. 



NEWS OF THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. 

When the news of the battle of Lexington reached 
Amenia, the militia companies came together with a 
spontaneous will, like men who had something to do* 
" They were addressed by Ephraim Paine, Esq., in a 
masterly oration," in which he rehearsed the matters 
which had brought the country to so serious a crisis, 
pointed to the tyranical measures of England, intended 
to enslave this country, now already begun in blood, 
the danger of America, and that the time had come to 
step forth with manly courage to resist the force of 
lawless invasion. 

" At the close of this address," says one* who was 
present, " the whole audience, officers and privates, 
caught the flame as from an electric shock, and were 
ready to march to the seat of war." Simeon Cook, 



* Barnabas Paine, Esq., who left in writing many valuble statements of the times. 
He was the father of the late Barnabas Paine, Esq. 



62 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



captain of one of the companies, addressed his men. 
" Fellow soldiers, the time is come to give up onr liber- 
ties, or defend them with the musket, xls many of jou 
as are willing to march with me to the scene of action, I 
will lead, and I will expose myself to all the dangers 
and hardships that you will be exposed to. If any of 
you are unwilling to go you are dismissed." It is added 
that not one left the ranks. 



SOLDIERS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 



These are names of the soldiers, as far as now ascer- 
tained, who were residents of Amenia : 



Noah Wheeler, 
Simeon Cook, 
Benjamin Hopkins, 
Waight Hopkins, 
Roswell Hopkins, 
Keuben Hopkins. 
Noah Hopkins, 
Brinton Paine, 
Jacob Bockee, 
Jabez Flint, 
Jacob Powers, 
Job Mead, 
Job Mead, Jun., 
Moses Harris, 
William Barker, 
Alex. Spencer, Jun,, 
Daniel C. Bartlett, 
William Blunt, 
David Rundall, 
■ Roger Southerlapd, 

V Increase Child, 
Joseph Mitchell, 
James Eeed, 

Wudah Burton, 
Silas Reed, 



Simeon Reed, 
Samuel lieed, 
Edmund Perlee, 
Nathan Conklin, 
Lemuel Hatch, 
Oliver Hatch, 
Peter Cline, 
Jesse Brush, 
Eiisha Barlow, 
James Bump, — ^ 
Conrad Chamberlain, 
Samuel Gray, 
William Chamberlain. 
Garret Winegar, 
Mackey, 
Jones Knapp, 
Silas Ray, 
Barzilla Andrews, 
Isaac Osborn, 
Dr. Reuben AUerton, 
Ephraim Lord, 
Bezaleel Ruad, 
Joshua Newman, 
Isaac Delamater, 
Colbe Chamberlain, 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMEJillA. 



David Doty, 
John Benedict, 
Joel Denton, 
John Congdon, 
Warum Kingsley, 
Stephen Edget, 
Amos Pennoyer, 
Jesse Pennoyer, 



(V 



Jeduthan Gray, 
Asa Hollister, 
Samuel Benedict, 
John Ford, 
Reuben Doty, 
Samuel Waters, 
William Brush, 
Ichabod Holmes. 



OFFICERS IN THE WAR. 

The following notices of officers, who were residents 
of Amenia, are compiled from the Calendar of Histori- 
cal Manuscripts, relating to the War of the Revolution. 

July 27, 1775, Waight Hopkins was chosen Captain 
in a regiment of Green Mountain Boys under Colonel 
Ethan Allen and Lieut.-Col. Seth Warner. 

Oct. 17, 1775,— The date of commisrions to officers 
in Regiment No. 6, of Militia of Dutchess county. 

David Southerland, Colonel, 
Roswell Hopkins, Lieutenant-Colonel, 
Simeon Cook, Major 
Richard De Cantelon, Major, 
Joseph Carpenter, Adjutant, 
Daniel Shepherd, Quarter-master, 

First dnnpany . Third Company. 

William Barker, Capt,, Joshua Laselle, Capt., 

Job Mead, 1st Lieut., Colbe Chamberlain, 1 Lt., 

Noah Hopkins, 2d Lieut., David Doty, 2d_Lieut., 



Abner Gillett, Ensign, 
Second Company. 
Brinton Paine, Capt., 
Samuel Waters, 1st Lieut. 
Ichabod Holmes, 2d Liet., 
Jesse Brush, Ensign, 



Elisha Barlow, Ensign, 
Fourth Company. 
Robert Freeman, Capt., 
Elijah Smith, 1st Lieut., 
Ezra St. John, 2d Lieut., 
Noah Wheeler, Ensign, 



Major De Cantelon was not a resident of Amenia, 
bat was probably a professional soldier, appointed to 



64 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

that regiment for the instruction of the officers and men 
in the military art. 

Oct. 17, 1775, — Minute Men of Amenia Precinct. 



Regiment under Col. John Van Ness. 

Increase Child, Capt., ^ 
John Lloyd, 1st Lieut., 
William Blunt, 2d Lieut., 



James Keed, Major, 
Eeuben Hopkins, Adj., 
—^ Jos. Ketcham, Jr., Q. M., 



Josiah Morse, Ensign. 

1775. — Officers in Gen. Clinton's Brigade recom- 
mended to him for the standing army. — 
Col. Graham, Capt. Brinton Paine, Lieut. Hopkins, 

1775. — Kufus Herrick was appointed Captain in a 
Dutchess county regiment. 

Apr. 12, 1776. — Officers in Col. James Clinton's reg- 
iment of Continentals, — 

Increase Child, Capt., John Lloyd, Lieut 

1776. — Petition of Officers of Col. Graham's regiment 
for the appointment of Dr. Abraham Teller to be Sur- 
geon of said regiment. — Morris Graham, Col., Roswell 
Hopkins, Lieut.-Col., Wm. Barker, Maj., Reuben Hop- 
kins, Adj., Elisha Barlow, Capt., Stephen Edget, Lieut., 
Samuel Waters, Lieut., and others. 

Oct., 1776. — Capt. Edget resigns on account of 
sickness. 

Dec. 14, 1776. — In Committee of Arrangements, 
Resolvedf that Brinton Paine, Esq., be appointed Capt. 
in Col. Dubois' regiment. 

Mount Independence, Nov. 15, 1776. — Lieutenant 
David Doty has obtained leave of Major-Gen. Gates 
to join the N. Y. troops ; we recommend the said Doty 
as a worthy officer and one that has performed his duty 
to universal satisfaction as Adjutant and Lieutenant. 

Nathaniel Buel, Col., 
John Sedgwick, Maj. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



65 



Jan., 1777. — Officers recommended for commissions 
according to their rank in Col. Humphrey's regiment. 

Edmund Perlee, 1st Lieut, i 
Reuben Doty, 2 Lieut., 
David Doty, Adj. 



Brinton Paine, Major, 
Wm. Chamberlain, Capt., 
John McNeil, 1st Lieut., 

Jan. 7, 1777. — Capt James Eeed petitions to be re- 
lieved from the operation of the rules adopted in regard 
to the transportation of flour to the army at the 
eastward. Capt. Reed was Assistant Commissary, and 
was directed to send flour for the army at the east, but 
was hindered by a certain embargo on flour crossing 
the colony line. Judah Swift disregarded these orders 
of the Provincial authorities, and sent, in the night, 
two sleigh loads of flour to the east by way of Kent* 
On the Kent road, near the colony line, the drivers en- 
countered the guard, whom they overpowered. The 
object of this embargo seems to have been to prevent 
the flour going into the hands of the enemy. Trusty 
persons received a permit to go with the flour to cer- 
tain points, and in several cases these persons agreed 
to bring back a load of salt. 

Feb. 7-15, 1776. — Account of guns delivered to 
Capt. Child and appraised by Dr. Chamberlain, C. 
Marsh and C. Atherton. 



Gun of Stephen Warren, 
*' " Levi Orton, 
" " Jedidiah Bump, 
" " Benjamin Delano, 
" " Peter Cline, 
*' *• Nathan Barlow, 
" " Benjamin Hall, 
** " Sylvanus Nye, . 
" " Gershom Reed, 
" " EliakimReed, 

Pistol of Joseph Pennoyer, 





3 




110 




215 




2 




. 115 




2 5 




. 2 




315 




210 




310 




010 



66 THE EARLY HISTOEY OF AMENIA. 



This is taken from a memorandum found among the 
papers of Capt. James Heed. It shows the means to 
which Congress was obliged to resort to furnish fire- 
arms to the soldiers. 

April 22, 1777. — Major Brinton Paine is a prisoner 
in New York, " and is not like to come out." " The 
Major tells the guards that he is in a just cause, and if 
he gets out he will fight them again." 

April, 1777. — The lead mines at Great Nine Part- 
ners were explored, with some success, by an agent of 
Congress. The lead mines were on the lands of Mr. 
Fish, in Amenia, and were explored at the suggestion of 
Moses Harris. The Commissioners appointed by the 
Provincial Congress were Jonathan Landon and Ezra 
Thompson, and they employed John McDonald, an ex- 
perienced miner from Scotland, who appears to have 
come over for the purpose of aiding the people in their 
struggle. The work at these mines was continued 
through the season, as reported by Mr. McDonald with 
great particularity. This John McDonald was of the 
distinguished Highland family of McDonalds, and Ins 
wife was the grand-daughter of Rob Roy MacGregor, 
one of Walter Scott's heroes, Mr. McDonald was the 
father of John McDonald, well known in Dutchess 
county fifty years ago, and of Miss Anne McDonald, 
very extensively known on account of her position in 
Judge Smith's famil}-. She came with her father from 
Scotland when a child, and on account of the reduction 
of his estate by the worthlessness of continental money, 
she entered Judge Smith's family as a governess. After 
Judge Smith's death, she became, through her remark- 
able executive ability, almost the sole manager of his 
large estate, and continued in that position many years.^' 

♦ The McDonald burying- ground is in the north-west corner of old Amenia, near the 
Row School-house, where the several generations of the family in this country are buried 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 07 

Sept. 17, 1776. — Cornelius Atherton petitions the N. 
Y. Council for the exemption from military duty of his 
workman, engaged in the manufacture of fire-arms in 
his contract with Congress.* 



NOTICES OF INDIYIDUAL SOLDIERS. 

" Captain Cook," says Mr. Paine, " was afterwards 
deservedly promoted to the rank of Major, and was dis- 
tinguished for his courage and steadinesst in battle 
near Fort Independence,! in 1777." " It was in this ac- 
tion also that Captain Noah Wheeler and Col. Roswell 
Hopkins were noticed for their bravery, and also pri- 
vates Amos Pennoyer and Jeduthaw Gray, who were all 
from Amenia." 

Five sons§ of Capt. Stephen Hopkins were officers. 
Waight and Benjamin joined the Green Mountain Boys, 
under Col. Ethan Allen and Lieut.-Col. Seth Warren 
and were both killed by the Indians. Eoswell Hopkins 
was Colonel, and took part with his regiment in the bat- 
tles at Saratoga. Dr. Reuben Allerton was Surgeon of 
the regiment in that campaign, and it is understood 
that Rev. John Barnet was Chaplain, who was after- 
wards Chaplain in the Continental army. Reuben 
Hopkins, the youngest of the brothers, and who was 
born in Amenia in 1748, was Adjutant in Col. Graham's 
regiment. In the beginning of the war of 1812, he was 
appointed one of the eight Brigadier Generalsjl of N. Y. 
State, being then a resident of Orange county. 



He was engaged at the Steel Works. 



t Mr. Paine says that "Major Cook was a tall, spare man, and of singular steadiness 
of manner, which gave him the name among his neighbors of ' Old Steady.' " 

X This was the Fort Independence near Peekskill. 

§ On© had died. 

i| Lossing's "War of 1812," page 366. 

*9 



68 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

Captain William Chamberlain was very active among 
the citizens of the town, as one of the Committee of 
Safety in the beginning of the war ; and in 1777 he re- 
ceived a commission as Captain in Col. Humphrey's 
regiment, and entered the army under Gates, and took 
part in the battles at Saratoga, which resulted in the 
capture of Burgoyne. 

Brinton Paine was transferred to the regular army 
in Col. Dubois' regiment, which was in Gen. Clinton's 
brigade. Col. Dubois had served in Canada, and he 
commanded the right wing at the battle of Klock's 
Field, near the Mohawk, in 1780. In April, 1777, Maj- 
Paine was a prisoner. 

In Oct., 1777, the Militia of Dutchess county were 
called to the defense of the Highlands."^ 

Jacob Bockee was a Captain of a company in the 
regiment under the command of the gallant Col. Mari- 
nus Willett. 

Moses Harris, Jun., served in the dangerous duty of 
a spy, and was greatly confided in by Washington. He 
was rewarded for his services, after the war, by a grant 
of land in Westfield, Washington county, N. Y., now the 
town of Fort Ann. Mr. Harris resided in the north- 
west part of the town. 

" Alexander Spencer, Jun., was a volunteer in Ar- 
nold's expedition to Quebec, and died on the march. "t 

Daniel C. Bartlett was the son of a Congregational 
minister, who on the breaking out of the war gave him 
on the Sabbath his sword, which he had newly ground, 
and told him to go and defend his country. Mr. Bart- 
lett went with Montgomery to Quebec, and was at the 



* This was the most perilous year of the war for Dutchess county. The enemy were 
threatening the passes of the Highlands on the south, their armed vessels moved up the 
Hudson, a!id Burgoynes army moved slowly trom the north. Our Militia were called at 
times in both directions to meet the Invasion. 

t Sedgwicli's "History of Sharon." 



THE EAELY HISTOKY OF AMENIA. 69 



capture of Fort St. John, in Nov. 1775. He was also 
present at the burning of Danbury in 1777. 

Increase Child, who lived in the southeast part of 
the town, was a Captain in the Continental troops. 

Joseph Mitchell was a private in the regulars. 

Jesse Pennoyer enlisted during the war at the age 
of sixteen. 

Jabez Flint entered the service at the beginning of 
the war and joined the army near Boston. His next 
service was near New York, when the retreat was made 
from Long Island, and his company escaped with peril 
from Governor's Island. In 1777, he entered the regu- 
lar army for three years, and went to Philadelphia, and 
the next winter he experienced the sufferings of Valley 
Forge. Afterwards he became Assistant in the Quar- 
ter-Master's Department, and then Assistant in the 
Commissary's Department. 

Judah Burton was in the Commissary's Department. 
Capt. James Reed was in the Commissarj^'s Depart- 
ment temporarily ; so also was Capt. Isaac Delamater. 

Samuel Gray was in the 'regular army through the 
war, and had the reputation of a good soldier. He lost 
his life, in 1826, by falling into a welh" 

Capt. William Chamberlain was at the battle of Ben- 
nington, and with him was Mackey, a small colored 
man, who had been a slave and ii;aitied his freedom hj 
his patriotic services. He lived near Amenia Union ii] 
his little home, which was also given him for his service. 

Garret Winegar was a Forage Master, and died be- 
fore the close of the war. 

Silas Ray was in the Continentals, perhaps in the 
xlrtillery. He lived on the road that leads to Kent. 



* "Little Sam Gray would have another shot," said one of the otficers at the close of 
a battle. 



70 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

Dr. Reuben Allerton was Surgeon at Saratoga, and 
as he used to say, " dressed the wounds of friend and 
foe." 

Ephraim Lord was much of the time absent in the 
army, and his energetic wife managed his estate well 
in his absence. 

Bezaleel Eudd, from the north part of the town, 
went with Ethan Allen. 

David Doty was a very active officer, and somewhat 
restless. He was transferred, as we see in another place, 
from the Litchfield county Regiment. 

Jeduthan Gray and Amos Pennoyer are honorably 
mentioned. 

Capt. Elisha Barlow was temporarily in the service. 

David Rundall served in two campaigns, one north 
and one south, in 1775 and 1776. 

It is understood that some of the soldiers from this 
vicinity were infected with that prejudice towards Gen. 
Schuyler, which was so unjust to that excellent officer 
and pure patriot, and which was soon after happily 
removed. 

Jones Knapp, who lived many years at Ebenezer 
Kurd's, was in the regular army through the war ; was 
present at the execution of Andre ; was at the capture 
of Cornwallis, and, on his way returning from the south, 
visited Mount Vernon. 

Warum Kingsley ? Doubtful. He was very young. 
But he was present at the Massacre of Wyoming. 

Some of those whose names are given in the preced- 
ing columns were in the service only temporarily.^ 



* There were undoubtedly a large number of privates, who went into the service ft-om 
Amenia, whose names are not here, as there are no records within reach of the compiler, 
and he is obliged to draw only from tradition and the very meagre records of family history, 
This will excuse the imperfections inthis list. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 71 



JUDGE PAINE. 

Among the civilians in Amenia, who rendered valua- 
ble services in the wars, none were more worthy of rec- 
ord than the Hon. Ephraim Paine, who was a man of 
marked character in public and private life, and was 
one of the first to stir, by his eloquent voice, the patriot- 
ism of the people. He was employed from the begin- 
ning of the war — as the " Civil List " shows — in offices 
of very high responsibility and honor, which placed him 
by the side of some of the greatest men of the new re- 
public ; and he was equally ready to associate with his 
neighbors in the minor offices of the town. His incor- 
ruptible integrity and firmness were not the less heroic 
for being accompanied with Puritan simplicity of man- 
ners. Judge Paine was not ambitious of place — as 
strong men are apt to be — nor was he dictatorial ; but 
he was disposed to be positive and uncompromising 
which exposed him somewhat to the charge of obsti- 
nacy. He was very singular in the simplicity of his 
manners and habits, but not boorish, and his theory of 
the social and political equality of all men, which he 
held as a religious conviction, was expressed in a lit- 
eral and extravagant manner. He held that as all men 
are equal, there should be no distinctions in dress or 
equipage ; he wore, therefore, the dress of a laboring 
man in the halls of legislation and in the house of 
worship."^ 

It was an aphorism with him that " all men should 
be treated alike." It is quite probable, therefore, that 
there was sometimes a disregard of that respectful defe- 
erence to men in official and dignified positions, which 



household 



His clothes were hot untidy, but coarse and plain, the manufacture of his own 
aid. 



72 THE EARLY HISTOllY OF AMENIA. 



the rules of polite society require, and it was the mag- 
nanimity of his courtly associates that led them to 
overlook tiiese outward faults of his character in their 
thorough respect for the unquestioned sound qualities 
of the man. 

Judge Paine's religious character was evidently 
somewhat tinged by his sympathy with the Separatists, 
or New Lights, among whom some of his relatives were 
distinguished leaders. 

It is unfortunate that the unselfish devotion to the 
public service and the purity in private life of this ex- 
cellent citizen should be less remembered than his 
eccentricities. 

Many ludicrous mistakes are told of, which resulted 
from Judge Paine's plainness of dress, some of which 
have been magnified and colored in amusing stories- 
He was at one time treated as a menial by the landlady, 
where he was to stay during his attendance at court in 
Poughkeepsie. The only rebuke which he gave to the 
mortified lady, when she apologised for her mistake, 
was, "You should treat all men alike." 

It is an authentic story that a gentlemen who rode 
in haste to the house on public business gave him his 
horse to hold while he should go in and speak to Judge 
Paine. It is also true that a gentleman was looking 
over the farm for Judge Paine, and found a man ditch- 
ing, and asked him, " Where is your master ? " " In 
Heaven, sir," was his ready and not irreverent answer. 

Judge Paine's education had been without tlie aid of 
schools, but his mind was disciplined to a habit of clear 
apprehension and accuracy, which made him on many 
occasions in his public service a valuable advisor in 
matters of finance. It is proper to say that he opposed 
decidedly the financial policy of Gen. Hamilton. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 73 



There is a notice of his family in its proper place. 

In 1785, Sep. 25, a few weeks after the death of 
Judge Paine, the Poughkeepsie Journal contained a 
fitting eulogy, supposed to have been from the pen of 
Judge Piatt. "'" 

Judge Paine was a member of the Senate when he 
died. 

Silas Marsh, who was called " Lawyer Marsh," was 
one of the most active patriots of those in civil life, and 
Mr. Samuel King appears to have been one of the wise 
counsellors of the time. 

There was evidently among the leaders in this town 
a high respect for the character and services of Hon. 
Egbert Benson. 

INCIDENTS OF THE WAR. 

This part of the country was r.ingularly free from any 
disturbance by the near approach of the enemy, or b}* 
any movements of our troops. The people here, it is 
said, heard the sound of the cannon at the battle of 
Long Island, and they saw the smoke of burning King- 
ston, but it " did not come nigh them." The nearest en- 
campment of the Continental troops, at any time, was at 
Pawb'ng, in 1778. In the summer of that year a large 
number of prisoners — mostly Hessians'^ — taken at the 
battle of Saratoga the year before were marched through 
this town on their way to Fishkill, where they crossed 
the Hudson. During all the time that the British held 
New York, much of the communication between 'the 
Eastern and Southern States was necessarily through 
Dutchess county. Several notes are made of the travel 

* Some of the Hessians earnestly solicited the people to aid them to escape, and 
some succeeded and remained in this country. 



74 THE EAELT HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



through Dover and the south part of Amenia by Amer- 
can and French army officers and others. 

In the early part of the war, a man called at Judge 
Paine's in his absence, and was suspected by Mrs. 
Paine to be a British spy, and she persuaded him to 
partake of some refreshments, which caused his delay , 
while she sent for two patriots,^ and caused his arrest. 
He was, however, an American spy, engaged in his le- 
gitimate enquiry, and the Committee of Safety, who 
knew him, were obliged to use some deception in plan- 
ning his escape, in order that his person and real char- 
acter should not be revealed. He was sent under guard 
on his way to Poughkeepsie, but made easily his escape. 

A young man, by the name of Samuel Jarvis, went 
from Amenia, leaving his wife and two children here, 
and joined the British army. He went to England af- 
ter the war, married again, and continued in the mili- 
tary service. After almost an hundred years, his legiti- 
mate family here have recovered his estate left in 
England. 

Resulutions calling out the Militia of WestcJiesier, Dutclusfi, 
and Albany. In Convention of Beprestntatives of 
State of New York. FishJcill, Bee. 21, 1776. 

" Whereas, It appears highly probable that the 
enemy's army meditate an attack upon the passes of the 
Highland on the east side of the Hudson River, and the 
term of enlistment of the Militia under the command of 
Gen. Clinton expires on the first of this month, ana, 

Whereas, His Excellency Gen. Washington has 
warmly recommended to this State to exert themselves 
in procuring temporary supplies of Militia, 

Resolved, That the whole Mihtia of Westchester, 
Dutchess, and part of Albany be forthwith marched to 

* The men sent for by Mrs. Paine were Elder Wood and Mr. James Palmer. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 75 



North Gastle, in Westchester county, well equipped with 
arms aud ammunition, and furnished with six days' 
provisions, and blankets, and a pot or camp kettle to 
every six men, except such persons as the field officers 
shall judge cannot be called into service without greatly 
distressing their families, or who may be actually en- 
gaged in the manufacture of saltpetre, or of shoes and 
clothing for the army 

Resvlved, that the Militia be allowed Continental pay 
rations, and that such men as cannot furnish themselves 
with arms shall be supplied from the public stores." 

The commanders of regiments were empowered to 
hire or impress as many teams as were necessary for 
transportation of baggage. 

Commissary-Gen. Trumbull was notified to make 
timely provision for the subsistence of said Militia. 

Col. Chevers, Commissary of Ordnance, was applied 
to for a loan of small arms for those destitute. 



THE TORIES OF DUTCHESS COUNTY. 

In 1777, while Burgoyne was threatening the north- 
ern part of the State, a considerable body of the Tories 
of Dutchess county were collected at Washington Hol- 
low, and made a formidable demonstration of their hos- 
tility. "An expedition was immediately set on foot to 
break up the gang." A company of fifty or sixty 
started from Sharon, Conn., and was joined on the way 
by others till the party amounted to two hundred. They 
halted for the night a little north of the Hollow, and in 
the morning made an attack upon the Tories, who fled 
and as many as could made their escape. Thirty or 
forty of them were made prisoners, and were sent to 
Exeter, in New Hampshire, where they were kept in 

no 



76 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



close confinement for two years. No more trouble was 
made by the Tories here during the war.'^ 



ROBBERIES. 

In the disturbed condition of society, incident to the 
war, lawless and rapacious men used the opportunity to 
indulge their spite, or to gratify their greed in plunder. 
In the near vicinity of the armies, and particularly on 
the " neutral ground," the losses of the inhabitants, and 
the dangerous annoyances, which were endured from 
marauding parties were terrible, and even in this safe 
retreat, there were instances of robbery. 

Philip Nase, Sen., and his wife, who lived where 
their son, Corneilius, afterwards had his house,t had 
lain up and secured in a treasure chest, a considerable 
sum of gold and silver money, and other valuable treas- 
ures. Four men in the disguise of British officers and 
soldiers, came one evening, armed with axes, and de- 
manded the key of their treasure, and threatening 
death to the family on any resistance. The key was 
surrendered, and every part of the treasure was carried 
off, and never recovered or heard from again. It is not 
believed that the robbers were British officers and sol- 
diers, who would not have been armed with axes, on 
such an expedition. 

The oldest son of Philip Nase, Sen., Henry, was a 
Tory of so positive a character that he left the country, 
and made his home in Nova Scotia. It is said that, be- 
fore he left, he had concealed in some haste, in the 
night, at the foot of the mountain, a sum of money — 

* Sedgwick's " History of Sharon.'" 

t The house where Mr. Nase lived, and where the robbery was committed, was on 
the opposite side of the highway from the house now there, and was removed many years 
ago. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 77 

eighteen hand red dollars in silver. When he returned 
to take it away, he was not able to find the place, and 
it is supposed to be there, perhaps, to this day. 

The attempted robbery of Capt. David Collin, father 
of the late Capt. James Collin, came to a different sequel 
from the other. A company of robbers, supposed to 
be some well-known Tories, came to Mr. Collin's house, 
in the absence of his wife, and demanded his money and 
other treasures, which they probably knew he possessed. 
Upon Mr. Collin's persistent refusal to give up his treas- 
ure, or reveal the place of its hiding, the miscreants pro- 
ceeded to hang him, and would probably have carried 
their purpose to a fatal issue, but for the timely coming 
of his wife, who saved his life and their treasure. 

The name of this heroic wife was Esther Gillett Col- 
lin. It is understood that the family have some memo- 
randum of this event, and of treasures concealed. 

EARLY RESIDENTS OF AMENIA. 

These are arranged in alphabetical order, for the 
convenience of the compiler and of the reader. 

This is not intended to be a genealogy of the fami- 
lies of Amenia. One or two generations beside the first 
settlers are in some cases mentioned, only to indicate 
their relation to present families. The records of gene- 
alogy, that valuable and interesting branch of history, 
are very properly made by many families for themselves. 
It is consistent with the plan of this work to leave out 
everything, with few exceptions, that does not belong to 
the early history of the town.* Of a large number of 
the early residents no records can be found but their 
names. 



* These notices of old families are put in as few words as possible ; and the plan of 
making the worli as condensed as consistent with completeness is sufficient apology for any 
want of smoothness of style. 



78 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



Elisha Adams was the proprietor of " Adams' Mill,"* 
in the west part of the town. The right to the mill 
privileges arid to raise water without limit was ceded to 
him by Judge JohnsOD. Ke was the first white settler 
on N. P. Lot 32, west of the mountain. Some of the 
family have remained in that place till within a few- 
years. : 

Abraham Adams, Jun , is mentioned in 1765. 

Darius Adams, 1765 ; Joseph Adams, 1762 ; John 
Adams, 1757. 

James Allsworth, Jun., lived in the northeast part of 
the town. 

Isaac Allerton, of Windham, Conn., purchased the 
farm of Abner Gillet — now the James farm — in 1787. 
Mrs. James was his daughter, and his sons were Jona- 
than, David and Reuben. Jonathan preceded his fath- 
er, and was a resident of Amenia in 1775. His wife 
was Bathsheba Mead. David was the father of Archi- 
bald and Isaac, and his wife was a Montgomery, a rela- 
tive of Gen. Montgomery, Dr. Reuben Allerton pre- 
ceded his father here a few years, and commenced the 
practice of medicine about 1778, first at Amenia Centre, 
and in 1785 he removed to Oblong, where he lived 
awhile in the John Reed house, and afterwards till his 
death close by the Presbyterian church — now of South 
Amenia. It was probably immediately after the com- 
pletion of his medical studies that he entered the service 
as Surgeon in Col. Hopkins' regiment, which was in 
1777. Dr. Allerton was of a genial, pleasant humor, 
and very spicy wit. He died in 1806, aged 54. His 
wife was the daughter of James Atherton. The family 
was descended in direct line from Isaac Allerton, of the 
May Flower. Dr. AUerton's son, Samuel, and his 



This mill was burned, and another one, now remaining, was built in its place. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENTA. 79 



danp^hter Amarillas are now living at an advanced age.^ 

James Athercon, from Canterbury, Conn . , was a 
resident of Sharon, where Zalmon Hunt now lives; then 
went to New Jersey, and thence removed to Amenia, 
where be died. He was a gentleman of excellent learn- 
ing, and had spent some time as a teacher in North 
Carolina, and returned from there on account of his 
intolerant hatred of slavery. 

Rodger Andrews lived in the south part of the town, 
near Seth Swift's, where he reared a large family. 

Cornelius Atherton, son of James, was an iron man- 
ufacturer, and had a contract with the government in 
the war to make fire-arms for the soldiers. He removed 
in the early part of the war to Wyoming, and was there 
with his famil}^ at the time of the massacre, and escaped 
with them with very great difficulty. 

Col. William Barker was the father of the late John 
Barker, and lived on the same farm. He served the 
town in several civil offices, and was active in the mili- 
tary in the Revolutioa, and served also in the Legisla- 
ture, as recorded in its place. His wife was Chloe, 
daughter of Mr. John Bronson, and thev were married 
in 1763. 

Deacon Moses Barlow and his brother, Nathan, 
came from Sandwich (or Cape Cod), in 1756, and pur- 
chased of Meltiah Lothrop the farm afterwards the 
home of the Swifts, and which they exchanged for the 
one where Moses Barlow settled, and which is still 
held, a part of it, by his grandson, Franklin Barlow.f 
Their father, Peleg Barlow, came with them at the age 
of 67, and died in 1759. Moses Barlow was the father 



* Dr. Corneilius AUerton and Milton Allerton were his sons Mrs. Thos. Barlow and 
Mrs. Taber Belden were his daughters. 

t The Barlow farm was on the " Clapp Patent,' Oblong Lot No. 47, and was pur- 
chased of Mr. Samuel Judson 



80 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



of Elisha and Thomas and several daughters. Hon. 
Elisha Barlow occupied S3veral important public trusts, 
— as shown by the " Civil List " — and was honored for 
his integrity and firmness, and was a gentleman of dig- 
nified manners. He had a numerous family. His old- 
est son, Thomas, was the father of the Hon. Thomas 
Barlow, of Madison county. Peleg, Moses, John, Obed, 
Elisha, and Jesse Barlow were sons of Judge Barlow. 
The Barlows, before they left the Cape, had been sea- 
faring men, and in an experience of the perils of their 
business, resolved to place their fortunes on solid 
ground, and this led them to their new home. The}^ 
came by water to Poughkeepsie, and there has been to 
this time a grateful recognition by the family of hospi- 
talities received at the Newcombs in Pleasant Valley on 
their journey here. (How many pleasing episodes woula 
be revealed by the diaries kept by any other of these 
families in their interesting journeys to their new homes). 

William Balis, Esq., was the father of the late Abiah 
P. Balis. 

Daniel C. Bartlett, from Bedding, Conn., bought of 
Joel Gillett, in 1803, the farm now owned by his grand- 
son, W. S. Bartlett. His heroic conduct in the war is 
mentioned in its proper place. He was the father of 
William and Collins Bartlett, and his daughters were 
Mrs. John Barker, Mrs. Thomas Paine, and Mrs. Wm. 
Paine. 

Elihu Beardsly, from New Milford, was living in the 
Dr. Leonard house, near George H. Swift's in 1773. 
He was a tanner. His wife was the daughter of Joseph 
Chamberlain. 

Ebenezer Benham was one of the early settlers on 
Tower Hill, which is in the southwest corner of the 
town. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 81 



Joseph Benson was an early resident of the south 
part of the town, where the family have remained in 
considerable numbers. 

' Zerah Beach, Esq., resided a few years near South 
Amenia, where he was engaged in trade about 1790 
He was one of the leaders at Wyoming, who signed the 
articles of capitulation. One of his daughters was the 
wife of James Warren. It was his grandson who was 
the plaintiff's lawyer in the great trial at Brooklyn of 
Tilton against Beecher. 

Bela E. Benjamin, the father of Mrs. C. Wesley 
Powers, Elijah Park Benjamin, and Horatio N. Benja- 
min, married Louisa, daughter of Elijah Park. 

Caleb Benton, of Guilford, Conn., purchased of 
Capt. Lasell, in 1794, the place now owned by his grand- 
son, Myron B. Benton. He was the father of Joel and 
William. The immigrant ancestor of Mr. Benton was 
Edward Benton, one of the first settlers of Guilford* 
who were, most of them, from the agricultural county 
of Kent, in England, and were noted for the very neat 
style of their farming. Mr. Benton left Guilford, be- 
cause of the very inconvenient division of his lands 
there."^ He paid for his land here 15 or 16 dollars per 
acre in specie, which he brought with him on horseback. 
When the family removed they came to Poughkeepsie 
by water in a sloop. Joel Benton, Esq., was much oc- 
cupied in public business, and was four times elected to 
the Legislature. 

About 1743, Silas Belden, of Wethersfield,t Conn., 
settled near the foot of Plymouth Hill, on a large tract 



* The farm lands in the southern part of Connecticut are, many of them, very incon- 
veniently disconnected. 

t The ancestor of Mr Belden was one of the early settlers in the ancient town of 
Wethersfield, and we find Deacon Joseph Belden a leading man there in 1706. 



82 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



of land which his father purchased in New York," and 
which was described afterwards as situated in Charlotte 
and Amenia Precincts. The sons of Silas Belden were 
Silas, Jun., and Lawrence. Joseph Belden was the son 
of Silas, Jr., and was the father of Taber Belden, whose 
home in the south part of the town is now occupied by 
his son. The land of Taber Belden was formei'ly a part 
of the Knickerbocker farm. Taber Belden was twice a 
member of the Legislature, and very often served the 
public as a wise counsellor. 

BoCKEE. — Soon after 1750, Abraham Bockee came 
from New York, where he had been a merchant, to Nine 
Partners, and entered upon land purchased by his 
grandfather, in 1699, and which has been in the posses- 
ion of the family to the present time. He was one of 
the Colonial justices, appointed by the Crown, as early 
as 1761, at which time he is mentioned as " a Mr. Bo- 
kay,t a justice of the peace, at Nine Partners, near a 
place called the City." The immigrant ancestor of Mr. 
Bockee was Johannes Bockee (Bokai), who came to this 
country in 1685, and who was of that " noble Huguenot 
stock, that has contributed so many families of worth 
and distinction." Abraham Bockee, who came to Nine 
Partners, was the father of Jacob Bockee and the grand- 
father of the late Judge Abraham Bockee. Jacob 
Bockee, a graduate of King's College, N. Y., was Cap- 
tain in the Revolutionary war of a company in Colonel 
Marinus Willet's regiment, and was a member of the 
Assembly in 1795 to 1797, where he introduced a bill 
for the abolition of slavery in this state. His wife was 



* Mr. Belden purchased this valuable tract of land when in Xew Yorlc, and -witliunt 
seeing it. It remains most of it in possession of the family. 

t Documentarj' History, III, , 085. 

J "Boka." This is the proper pronunciation and was formerly the only one, This 
fragrant old Huguenot name should have its proper sound. 



THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 83 



sister of the late Judge Isaac Smith."^ Judge Abraham 
Bjckee held sevaral hoaorabla positioQ-i in civil life, as 
shown in another part of this record. Though decided 
in his political convictions, he sometimes resisted the 
dictation of his party, and followed what he conceived 
to be right and for the public welfare. Phenix Bockee 
a brother of Abraham, was Lieutenant in the war of 
1812, and died in Po'keepsie in 1814. 

Some of the Bockee family went to South Carolina, 
and it is a reasonable supposition that the gallant Col. 
Henry Bouquet, who was distinguished in the war with 
the Indians in 1763, was of the same family, and that 
he retained the original spelling of the name. 

Captain John Boyd was of Irish descent — probably 
Scotch-Irish — and came here from Orange County 
previous to 1769, and he returned and resided there 
again a few years. He married the daughter of Esq. 
Conrad Winegar, and resided a little south of Amenia 
Union in a house which he built — now standing — where 
he died in 1817. He was the father of Samuel,t Gil- 
bert, David and others. 

Noah Brown was the ancestor of many of that name 
in the north part of the town — now in Northeast. 

Lemuel and William Brush, sons of Eeuben Brush, 
from Long Island, lived in the west part of the town, 
not far from the City. Lemuel married Mary Perlee, 
and his sons were PerJee, Jesse, Piatt, John and Henry . 
Jesse was an officer in the Revolutionary war. 

Gen. John Brur.h, who was a lawyer in Po'keepsie, 
commanded the Dutchess coanty troops at Harlem 
Heights, in the war of 1812, and was afterwards Major- 
Gen, of Militia. 

* Jacob Bockee and his brother-in-law, Judg-f Smith, and Judge Johnson, were very 
iDtimat-^, and dined togetlier once a week at each other's houses. 

t Samuel Boyd lived where I. Hunting Conkling now resides, on the land which 
came by his wife, a daughter of Judge Paine. 

ni 



84 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



Col. Henry Brush was Captain of Ohio Volunteers 
in the war of 1812, and was on his way to Detroit with 
230 men, 100 beef cattle, and other provisions, and a 
mail, when Gen. Hull surrendered, Aug. 16,1812. Capt. 
Brush had arrived at the river Raisin, and was in immi- 
nent danger, through the negligence of Hull to send a 
reinforcement, of falling into the hands of the Indians, 
under Tecumtha. When notified on the 17th bv a 
British officer, with a flag of truce, of Hull's surrender 
of his army, including his own command, he refused to 
accept the notice as authoritative, and escaped with his 
stores to Ohio."^ The compiler has been informed oral- 
ly that Capt. Brush purposely allowed the whiskey 
among his stores to fall into the hands of the Indians, 
which so demoralized them that they were unable to 
pursue the retreating party. 

Moor Bird was born in New Marlborough, Mass., in 
1756. He married the daughter of Louis Delavergne, 
and lives where his sou, the late Henry Bird, did. His 
other sons were Augustus and Milo. He was of the 
same family as Bev. Isaac Bird, who has compiled a 
genealogy of his family. 

Edmund Bramhall married a daughter of Deacon 
Moses Barlow. He was a carpenter, and built, before 
the Revolutionary war, the Deacon Barlow house, now 
standing. 

John Bronson was the father of Mrs. Wm. Barker. 

" Dea. John Brownson died in 1785, aged 85. 

Jedidiah Bump, and his brother James, came from 
Granville, Mass. They were probably of Huguenot de- 
scent, the original name being " Bon-pas," then " Bum- 
pas," and " Bumpus." 

Mr. Bump owned the east half of J. H. Cline's farm, 

* Lossing's " War of 1812," pp. 273-290. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 85 



where he built a house, removed many years ago. He 
afterwards removed to the farm where his daughter 
Huldah, now lives, 1875."^ His sons were Roswell, 
Elijah, and Herman. 

Judah Burton came from Horse Neck, now Stamford, 
Conn., previous to 1762. His house, wdiich he built, 
and which was afterwards the home of his son, Daniel, 
is the brick house, now the residence of Edmund P. 
Carpenter. Mr. Burton's wife was Huldah Stanton, of 
Horse Neck. Sarah Burton, daughter of Judah, became 
the wife of Ezra Thompson, Jun. Daniel Burton, the 
son of Judah, was the father of Abraham and Warren 
Burton. 

Eli, Isaac, Josiah, and Elijah Burton were early res- 
dents of the west part of the town, and near the City- 
Isaac Burton, a man of good estate, was a citizen of 
Amenia in 1751. He is supposed to have been a brother 
of Judah. 

Judah Burton was an officer in the Revolutionary 
war, in the Commissary Department, and is spoken of 
as " Commissary-General." 

Ezra Bryan, one of the true Whigs of the Revolu- 
tion, and father of the late Amos Bryan, lived in the 
north part of the town, where the family have since re- 
sided. Ezra Bryan, David, and others are of that 
family. Amos Bryan was Member of Assembly in 1840. 

Rufus Case was a resident of Amenia previous to 
1800. 

The ancestors of the Carpenter family of this town 
and vicinity came from England to Massachusetts in 
1638 ; thence to Long Island, in 1686. In 1752, Daniel 
Carpenter purchased land in Crom Elbogh Precinct, 
near Salt Point, where lie died in 1777. His son, Ben- 

* She died in February, 1875, aged 92. 



86 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

jamin, being excessively persecuted by the Tories" — 
which is an evidence of his persistent patriotism — sold 
his land there, and purchased the lands, which, with 
subsequent additions,t made in part the farm of his son, 
Hon. Morgan Carpenter, now of Mr. Isaac S. Carpenter. 
!Benjamin Carpenter purchased also for his sons, S. 
Pugsley and Daniel, the Evartson farm in Amenia, 
south of the City, where Daniel Carpenter remained till 
his death. Daniel married Zayde Perlee. Morgan 
married Maria, a daughter of Jacob Bockee. 

Daniel Castle, Esq., came from Roxbury, then a part . 
of Woodbury, Conn., some time previous to the year 
1758, and settled at South Amenia, where he was keep- 
ing a tavern at that date. He was one of His Majesty's 
Justices of the Peace. Gideon Castle, his son, built a 
house, where the South Amenia Post-Office is, and 
afterwards purchased the James Tanner farm, where he - 
remained. He was largely concerned in the purchase 
and sale of land. Esq. Castle's daughter was the wife 
of Capt. James Reed. 

Joseph Chamberlain came from Tolland, Conn., in 
1755, and settled on the farm afterwards owned by the 
Nye family, where he is supposed to have built the 
house now on the place. He was buried near the Steel 
Works, in 1765. His sons were Colbe, James, John,^_- 
and William. Col Colbe was the father of Joseph, Con- 
rad, and Henry. John was a physician of acknowl- 
edged skill, and lived awhile in Po'keepsie. Capt. Wm. 
Chamberlain, the father of Oliver and James, lived on 
the farm now owned by J. H. Cline, and kept a tavern 
there, which was much frequented in the time of the 

* This was at the time when the Tories of Dutchess county put on such a bold front, 
and gathered their forces at Washington Hollow. Mr. Carpenter was three times robbed 
by them. 

t These lands were purchased of Daniel Shipard, Moses Harris, Samuel Pugsley, 
Job Swift, Dr. John Miller and others. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 87 

Eevolution. He was in tlie battle of Bennington, Sara- 
toga and other fields, and be with his brothers were 
very zealous patriots. The family possessed a large 
fund of pleasant humor, which is not yet exhausted.* 

Solomon Chase lived in several places in this town 
and in Kent. He married the daughter of Joseph 
Chamberlain, Sen. His son, Stephen Chase, was the 
only surviving passenger in the celebrated wreck of the 
Albion in 1822, He was on his way to England to look 
after an estate. The Chase family are supposed to have 
some hereditary right in a large estate there now. 

Ezra Clark was from Lisbon, Conn., and was the 
ancestor of that family now in Northeast. He was the 
father of Douglas Clark, Esq., of Moses, and of Elijah. 
Major Elijah Clark lived near the outlet of Chalk pond, 
and died before middle life. 

Solomon Chandler kept a store near Amenia Union, 
in 1791. He lived awhile in the John Reed house. 

Capt. Increase Child, who lived near South Amenia, 
was an active officer in the Revolutionary war. He was 
the ancestor of Dr. Joseph Child (?). One of his sons 
was Mark Antony Child. 

Peter Cline (Klein), a native of Germany, came here 
from Rhinebeck, in 1760. It is understood that he left 
Germany about 1752 or 1753. He was one of those 
called " Redemptioners," who paid for their passage to 
this country by their service here afterwards, to which 
they were bound by the captain, who brought them 
over. Some noble examples of honor are recorded of 
these men, in redeeming their pledge, and Mr. Cline's 
was a singular instance of scrupulous honesty, in that 
through the dishonesty of the captain, he was led to 

* Daniel Hebard, John J. Hollister, and Samuel S. Winegar married dau,<ihters of 
Col. Colbe Chamberlain. The wife of Capt. William Chamberlain was Abigail Hatch, ot 
Kent. His daughters were Mrs. Solomon Freeman, Mrs. Koswell Bump, Mrs. Archibald 
AUerton and Mrs. Gilbert Boyd. 



88 THE EARLY HISTOEY OF AMENIA. 



serve out here the time for his redemption, notwith- 
standing he had paid for his passage before he left 
Germany. 

Mr. Ciine bought of Capt. Isaac Delamater, where 
his great-grandson, Edward E. Cline, now Kves, one- 
half of Oblong Lot, No. 49, for ten dollars and a half 
per acre. 

He left one son, John Cline, who died in 1845, aged 
89, and one daughter, the wife of Allen Hurd. 

Mr. Cline's was an example of industry, frugality 
and honesty, leading to thrift, and that kind of thrift, 
which tends to the elevation of character and social 
standing.* 

Major Nathan Conklin, of the north part of the 
town, was from East Hampton, L. I., from which place 
he came here in 1781. 

He was a public-spirited and intelligent gentleman, 
and was frequently Moderator of the Town Meeting. 

Major Conklin purchased his land in Amenia of 
Brush.t 

Capt. Benjamin Conklin, the father of Dr. Ebenezer 
H. Conklin, of Amenia Union, w^as from Norwalk, Conn. 
He lived in Sharon many years, and in the later years 
of his life near Amenia Union. 

Captain David Collin, father of the late Capt. James 
Collin, and others, was born in Milford, Conn., in 1734, 
and came to Amenia previous to 1764, where he ac- 
quired by his industry a fine estate. He was the son of 
John Collin, who was born in France in 1706, and who 
migrated to this country on account of religious perse- 
cution, and settled in Milford. He was commander of 



* The sons of Mr. John Cline were Peter, Allen, Philo and Ebenezer. Peter removed 
to Otsego county. One of the daughters of John Cline was the wife of Asa Hurd. Another 
was the wife of Thos. Swift. Mr. Cline s wife was Lucy Philips, 

t The late Captain John H. Conklin Avas the only one of Major Conklin's sons who 
remained in Ameuia, The others, and the daughters, were residents of Ponghkeepsie. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 89 



a ship sixteen years, and was lost at sea at the age of 
forty years.^ 

David Collin married Lucy Smith, and after her de- 
cease, Esther Gillet, who was the mother of James. 

He was a Lieutenant in the French war, and was 
present at an unsuccessful attack on Fort Ticonderoga . 

It was he whom a company of marauders attempted 
to rob. 

Eev. John Cornwall, father of Eden B. Cornwall, 
and grandfather of Hon. W. I. Cornwall, was from 
Cornwall, Conn. He lived at the Separate and minis- 
tered there, and at the City, and occasionally at the 
Red Meeting House. 

The highway at the Separate is on the boundary 
line between Amenia and Stanford, which is also the 
line between Lot No. 22 and Lot No. 32 of the Nine 
Partners. There was placed many years ago near the 
Separate a monument to affirm the location of this line. 
Two stones were placed across, below the surface of 
the earth, where they might be found by one who was 
present. 

Major Simeon Cook was an influential citizen in 
the earliest years of Amenia Precinct, and when the 
war broke out, he was one of the first to put his name 
to the Pledge, and to give himself to the actual work of 
the war. His wife was the daughter of Ephraim Lord, 
whose house stood where the Seminary now is, and 
after the death of Mr. Lord, Major Cook came in pos- 
session of the place, and left it to his youngest son. Col. 
Solomon Cook. His other sons were Lot and Simeon, 
Jun. 

Joshua Culver was married in 1767, and Joshua 
Culver, Jun., learned the tanner's trade of Capt. Wm. 

* A complete genealogy of John Collin, ofMilford, Conn., has been published by Hon. 
John F. Collin, of Hillsdale, K. Y. 



90 THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



Young at Amenia Union. Mr. Culver, Jun . , the father 
of Backus Culver, established his business at Pine 
Plains, where he conducted it with success. The family 
have been much identified with the people of Amenia. 

Dr. Cyrenus Crosby was the successor of Dr. Aller- 
ton at Amenia, and was often in public office. 

Caleb Dakin lived near Coleman's Station, where 
his grandson, Amasa D. Coleman, now owns the same 
place." He was the son of Elder Simon Dakin, who 
came from the vicinity of Boston, previous to 1751, to 
Spencer's Corners,t where he organized a Baptist 
church and was the pastor many years. 

Jonathan Darling lived west of Leedsville. 

Isaac Darrow, Esq., owned the farm, afterwards 
owned by Eli Mills, Esq. He was the father of Azariah 
Darrow, of South Amenia. 

William Davies was a resident of Amenia several 
years, and owned large tracts of land in different parts 
of the town. He came into the town when a young man, 
and engaged in teaching a school at the Square, and had 
his home in the family of Mr. Benjamin Leach, whose 
daughter he afterwards married. While a resident of 
Amenia he built the brick house, now the residence of 
Allen Wiley, where he lived a few years, and then re- 
moved to Poughkeepsie. 

Mr. Davies was son of Eev. Thomas Davies, a de- 
voted Episcopal clergyman, of whom there is published 
a brief memorial ; and the mother of Mr. Davies was 
the daughter of Joel Harvey. Gen. Thomas L. Davies 
and Wm. L. Davies, of Poughkeepsie, are his sons. 



* Mr. Dakin was the father of Caleb Dakin, and of Mrs. Coleman, and of Mrs. Bar- 
rett, wife of Ezra L, Barrett. Caleb Dakin boutrht his farm of Allen Sajje. Jacob Dakin. 
Esq , of Northeast, and Simeon Dakin, Jun., were sons of Elder Simon Dakin. 

t Spencer Corners, in Northeast, a little north of the old line of Amenia, was so nam- 
ed from Philip Spencer, Esq., the father of Hon. Ambrose Spencer, who resided there many 
years. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OP AMENIA. 91 



Benjamin Denton, Esq., was one of the earliest set- 
tlers near the City. He was the son of Richard Denton, 
who was the fifth Richard Denton in the family in suc- 
cession. The first of the five is without doubt the Rich- 
ard Denton, spoken of by Rev. Cotton Mather in this 
history, as having come from Enj^^land about 1640. 

Benjamin Denton's wife was Rachel Wheeler, whose 
family was from Holland. His sons were John and 
Benjamin, Jun. 

Joel Denton, the father of Joel Denton, Jun., was a 
landholder in 1791. 

Capt. David Doty and Lieut. Reuben Doty are men- 
tioned in the military record. A large family of this 
name were residents of the southeast part of the town. 
Samuel Doty was Collector for Amenia Precinct in 1762. 
They were from Old Plymouth colony, and came to this 
town from Sharon. 

Capt. Samuel Dunham lived on the Sturges-Sanford 
place, and had a forge a short distance south of The 
Narrows, using the water power of that small stream. 
He was from Sharon. He married the daughter of /; 
Ephraim Lord, who had a right in the ore bed, which 
furnished the ore for Dunham's forge. This was pre- 
vious to the Revolution. 

Benjamin Ellis, from Barnstable, Mass. (?), lived in 
the Oblong, and was engaged with Captain Reed in the 
manufacture of iron. 

Stephen Eno, Esq., was a teacher in this town seve- 
ral years, and Commissioner of Schools.* He became 
a successful lawyer, and was a model for the accuracy 
of his knowledge and the precision of his habits of bus- 
iness. He was a gentleman of the old school, and diea 

* Stephen Eno Avas Moderator of Town Meeting in 1798. It was considered the high- 
est honor to be made Moderator of Town Meeting. 

n2 



92 THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

at an advanced age at Pine Plains, the residence of his 
son, William Eno, Esq. 

Lewis Delavergne came to Amenia, evidently from 
"Washington in this county, while his son, Henry, was 
quite young, and became owner of the mill property and 
one thousand acres of land, which he purchased at a 
low price. He was the brother of Dr. Benjamin Dela- 
vergne, and was the father of Henry, who retained the 
mill, &c. It is said that the emigrant ancestor, who was 
of a superior family in France, came to this country in 
consequence of having been en^jaged in a duel. 

It was Dr. Delavergne who built the dam near the 
road to Kent. It is called to this day " The French 
Doctor's Dam," and the remains are there. The object 
is supposed to have been to flood the lands above in or- 
der to convert them into a meadow. Dr. Benjamin De- 
lavergne took a prominent part in the beginning of the 
Bevolutionary war, and was Major in the Fourth Begi- 
ment of Dutchess County Militia. 

Jacob Evartson, a native of New Jersey, came to 
Amenia in 1762, and purchased the south half of Lot 
No. 33 of the Nine Partners,* about 1700 acres, and in 
1763, he built the large brick house, afterwards the res- 
idence of Mr. Daniel Carpenter, about a mile south of 
the City post-office. Mr. Evartson's ancestors were 
from Amsterdam, in Holland, where they had for three 
generations held the position of Admiral in the Dutch 

Navy.t 

Mr. Evartson, in the cultivation of his lands and his 

domestic service, had a large number of slaves. He 

conducted also a store at the City for several years. 

* John Evartson became the OAvnerof Lot No. 33, and sold the north half to John 
Clapp and Henry Franklin, and the south half to Jacob Evartson.— Lib. 6. p. 222 The por- 
traits of Jacob Evartson and his v^ife are now in the mansion of the late Gov. Smith in 
Sharon, and show them to have been of fine personal appearance. 

t Admiral Evartson— one of these— received a sword from the hand of William, 
Prince of Orange, afterwards William IIL of England, in testimony of his heroic and loyal 
conduct. I 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 93 

In 1776, Mr. Evartson was one of the Deputies from 
Dutchess to the First Provincial Congress of New York. 
About 1795, he removed to Pleasant Valley where he 
died in 1807. 

Mr. Evartson's wife was Margaret, daughter of Geo. 
Bloom. His son, George B. Evartson, removed to Po'- 
keepsie. His daughter, Margaret, was the wife of Gov- 
ernor Smith, of Conn., and his daughter, Maria, was the 
second wife of William Davies. He had several other 
children. 

John Farr was the owner of George Kirby's farm in 
1787. 

Jabez Flint, Esq., a native of Windham, Conn., came 
to Amenia in 1781, to the farm where his son, Augustus 
now resides. He had served four years and three 
months in the continental army. His wife was Judge 
Paine's daughter. He died in 1844, aged 88 years" 
His military service is mentioned in another place. 

Eliphalet Follet was a landholder in 1768. Married 
to Elizabeth Dewey in 1764. 

Joshua Fish, Jonathan Fish, and Peter Fish, Esq., 
were residents of the north part of the town (as it was) 
and near the Bockee's and Bryant's. Noae of the fam- 
ily have resided there at a recent date. 

Capt. Robert Freeman, father of Jonathan and Sol- 
omon Freeman, owned at one time, 1757, a considerable 
tract of land in the east part of the town. 

John Garnsey, the father of Deacon John Garnsey, 
Dr. Ezekiel Garnsey, and others, was from New Haven 
county. Conn., and settled where the family still remain. 
He was one of those courageous and conscientious pa- 
triots that never feared anything but what he thought 
to be wrongt 

* Esq. Flint's sons were Philip, Alfred, Morris and Augustus. 

t Peter Garnsey. a brotlier of John, helped to raise a regiment, and served through 
the war as quarter-master. Another brother, Isaac, also served through the war. 



94 THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



Eoger Gale resided in the west part of the town as 
early as 1776. It was one of his descendants who went 
from this town, and founded and gave name to the town 
of Galesburp^h, Illinois. 

Elisha Gilbert was a citizen of Amenia in 1762, and 
held land near the Eben Wheeler place in 1771. Sam- 
uel was the father of Medad Gilbert. 

Thaddeus Gilbert was a resident in 1777. Eliakim 
was the father of Daniel Gilbert. 

Gardiner Gillett, Joel Gillett, and x4.bner Gillett are 
mentioned in another place as early settlers in Amenia. 
Eichard Gillett married Nelly Elliot in 1766. Joshua 
Gillett married Mary Knickerbacker in 1768, and lived 
in the south part of the town and east of the creek. 

The Goodrich family was in the part of the town 
now Northeast. 

Joel Harvey, Joel Harvey, Jun., and Obed Harve}^, 
lived in the east part of the town, near Sharon valley. 
It is supposed that Joel Harvey built the brick house, 
where Eben Wheeler lives. 

Capt. Robert Hebard, from Lyme, Conn., purchased 
a tract of land (about 1,000 acres), Ijdng in the Oblong 
east of Ameniaville, and including a part of Allen Wi- 
ley's farm. He was the father of Benjamin, Robert? 
and Daniel. Deacon Benjamin Hebard was for many 
years a leading and valuable member of the church at 
the Red Meeting House. Daniel Hebard, Esq., re- 
moved to Poughkeepsie. His wife was the daughter of 
Col. Colbe Chamberlain. His sons v/ere John J., Hen- 
ry, and Edward. 

Capt. Isaac Hillard, from Redding, Conn., lived at 
Amenia Union. He was the author of several political 
and poetical tracts. One of his political tracts attracted 
the notice of Jefferson, who sent to Mr. H. a compli- 
mentary letter. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 95 

Eufus Herrick was chosen Collector and one of the 
Constables at the second Precinct Meeting. Stephen 
Herrick appears on the Town Kecord in 1766, and Ben- 
jamin Herrick in 1767. The family lived north of the 
church at the City, where they built the brick house, now 
Robert Hoag's. Eufus Herrick was an active officer 
in the war of the Revolution. 

Stephen Hitchcock, son of Samuel, settled first in 
Sharon, and afterwards where his son, Homer, resided. 
His brother, Amariah, purchased of Dr. Chamberlain the 
place, now the home of Geo. H. Swift, where he died. 
Samuel purchased near — a part of the same place — then 
sold to his brother, and went to Schodack. Thomas 
went also to Schodack. Solomon traded several years, 
—as early as 1800— at Amenia Union, and the place 
was called " Hitchcock's Corner." 

The family was from Nor walk, Conn., and had come 
to Sharon in 1752, and settled on the farm where the 
late Southard Hitchcock resided. 

Benjamin Hollister settled in the east part of the 
town in 1741, on the farm where Norton Hollister lived , 
and where the sixth generation of the family is now liv- 
ing (1875). Benjamin Hollister, Jun., built, about 1775, 
the house near Leedsville, where his son, Nathaniel 
Hollister, resided. The family was from Glastonbury, 
Conn. 

Deacon Asa Hollister, a native of Glastonbury, and 
an eminent christian of the Puritan style, settled on the 
hill, west of Noah Wheeler's place, about 1780. The 
family were at Wyoming at the time of the massacre, 
when his father and brother were killed, and himself 
and the other members of the family escaped. He was 
the father of Rev. Allen Hollister, Asa, Jun., and 
Timothy. 



96 THE EAELY HISTOEY OF AMENIA. 

Icliabod Holmes was an early settler near the Square. 

Capt. Stephen Hopkins, a grandson of Edward Hop- 
kins, one of the first settlers of Hartford, and second 
Governor of the Colony under the charter, was born in 
Hartford in 1707, and came from Harwinton to Amenia 
previous to 1748.^ 

The part of the town where he settled was consid- 
ered central. The Meeting House was built near his 
residence, on land given by him for that purpose, and 
the Old Burying Ground, which was also given by him, 
was near the same, where he and all the early settlers 
of that part of the town were laid. His house was south- 
west of the burying ground, and was reached in later 
years by a lane from the highway. 

Mr. Hopkins was the first Supervisor of Amenia in 
1762, and was elected also in 1764, 1765, and 1766. He 
died in 1766, leaving six sons. 

This was an educated, christian family. The distin- 
guished part which they took in the war is recorded in 
its place. Michael Hopkins was the first Town Clerk, 
and served in that ofiice till 1773, when E-oswell Hop- 
kins was chosen and served till 1783 ; and was also Su- 
pervisor in 1777 and 1778, and he served also as a mag- ^ 
istrate more than thirty years. And all of them were 
influential in the church. 

Eoswell Hopkins' house was afterwards the Totten 
house, where W. P. Perlee now lives. 

Col. Michael Hopkins died in 1773, aged 39, and his 
wife died in 1771. She was the daughter of Rev. Wm. 
Worthington, of Saybrook, Conn., and was the sister of 
Gov. Smith's mother. 

Roswell Hopkins, Esq., removed to Vermont and ^ 
died in 1817. 

* He bought Lot 32 of the Nine Partners, and took a deed ot the north half dated 
1744. rC 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 97 



Gen. Reuben Hopkins, youngest son of Stephen, 
died in Illinois in 1819. 

Hon. Hannibal M. Hopkins, son of Reuben, was liv- 
ing at an advanced age in Goshen, N. Y., in 1872. 

The only representative of this numerous family 
now resident in Amenia is Mrs. Peter B, Powers, daugh- 
ter of J. Milton Wheeler. Mr. Wheeler's mother* was 
a daughter of Roswell Hopkins. Benson Hopkins 
Wheeler, also a son of Anthony and Selina (Hopkins) 
Wheeler, is living in Chenango county, N. Y. 

John Hinchliffe, who set up at the Steel Works the 
first carding machine in this part of the land, was from 
Saddlev/orth, Yorkshire, England. He retained in a 
very marked degree the colloquial dialect of Yorkshire. 
He was a man of intelligence and considerable reading. 

Ebenezer Hurd, Jun., came here from Dover about 
1794, and purchased of Judson the farm now belonging 
to Mr. Chaffee. The family was from Rhode Island.t 

Asa Hurd was his brother, and Mrs. Moses Swift 
and Mrs. Pray were his sisters. 

Jeremiah Ingraham, the father of George and 
Thomas, purchased lands of William Davies in 1789. 
Thomas purchased of Evartson about 1772, and George 
Ingraham purchased of Davies in 1794. They were 
from Bristol, Rhode Island. They had a numerous 
posterity, who have carried a healthful christian influ- 
ence into other parts of the land. 

Mr. Samuel Jarvis, of Redding, Conn., came to 
Amenia in the latter part of the century, to the farm 
where Hiram Cooper lives, and his residence was the 



* " Selina, wife of Antliony Wheeler, and daughter of Col. Eoswell Hopkins, died in 
Feb. 20, 1797, aged 23years." " Hannah, wife of C3a-enus Crosby, and daughter of Colonel 
Roswel* Hopkins, died June 16, 1789, aged 21 years." Mary Hopkins, daughter of Eoswell. 
was the Avife of Daniel Eeed, son of Capt. James Eeed. It was f Daniel Eeed who built at 
the close of the war, in 1783, the house now owned by Amariah Hitchcock at Amenia Un- 
ion. He was father of the late William Eeed, and Mrs. Nancy Eeed Jerome and others 

t Ebenezer Hurd's wife was Eebecca Philips. 



98 THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMEMA. 

old house near Mr. Cooper's. He was of an English 
family of good standing, many of whom adhered to the 
royal side in the Eevolution. It was a brother of Mr. 
Jarvis, who led the British into Danbury, when they 
burned it, and who, after the war, went to Canada, and 
entered into the service of the Crown. 

Stiirges Sandford, a son of Mrs. Jarvis, came to 
Amenia with him. 

Samuel Jarvis, who is mentioned in another place as 
going over to the English in the time of the Eevolution , 
married the daughter of Judah Swift, and was the father 
of Launcelot Jarvis. 

Thomas Jenks, the father of William and John Jenks 
and others, w^as a resident of Leedsville, and owned the 
old house and mill, built by John Delamater. lit U^^ / 

Samuel Judson, from Woodbury, Conn., father of 
Azariah Judson, of Hillsdale, first settled on the Bar- 
low farm, and about 1769 he purchased the farm now 
owned by J. S. Chaffee. His grave is near the Steel 
Works. 

Simeon Kelsey lived at South Amenia, and owned 
the mill, which he sold to Capt. Beed in 1781. Some of 
his descendants are in Sharon. 

Stephen Kinney, from New Preston, Conn., settled 
in the west part of the town, near the Separate, in 1740. 
He was one of the first in the religious congregation 
there. He was the father of Boswell Kinney, Sen., and 
the grandfather of Boswell Kinney, Jun.^* 

Elijah Kinney lived north of the City. 

Hezekiah King was one of the first settlers from 
New England. He built a house near Amenia Union, 
afterwards called the " Karner House," and died in 
1740. There is a meadow near, called now "King 

* Koswell Kinney, Jun., father of George Kinney and others, near the Separate, Avas 
accidentally killed while in middle life. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 99 

meadow." The Town Kecords of Sharon have this en- 
try : — " Deacon Hezekiah King departed this life, Oct. 
9, 1740."^ There was no church at Amenia Union then, 
and Mr. King was probably connected with the church 
in Sharon., 

Samuel King lived on the farm now owned b}^ Mr. 
Wiley. He was evidently an intelligent and trustwor- 
thy citizen, and was one of the patriotic leaders in the 
beginning of the war. 

Herman Knickerbacker died in 1805, aged 93 years, 
and was buried in his own field, on land now owned by 
Joseph Belden. A large number of graves are there of 
former residents in that part of the town. 

Joseph Gillett died in 1770, aged 29. He had mar- 
ried Mary Knickerbacker in 1768. 

John King was cotemporary with Samuel King. 
They were here as early as 1762 (from Greenwich ?). 

Ebenezer Knapp built a house at the Steel Works, 
and owned the celebrated orchard of Mr. Sackett. Mr. 
James Tanner's farm was a part of the Knapp farm. 

Capt. Joshua Laselle was a resident of Amenia as 
early as 1769. He purchased of William Young the 
place now owned by Myrou B. Benton. 

Benjamin Leach, a tanner, resided at the Square, 
and built that substantial brick house, afterwards for 
many years a tavern. 

Dr. Alpheus Leonard was the successor of Dr. Aller- 
ton in the practice of his profession. He was a man of 
accurate knowledge, and had a happy faculty of illus- 
trating his lessons to his students in medicine, and 
others who came to him for instruction. 

Ephraim Lord's house was on the place now occu- 



L. OV 0. » Tliib is the oldest obituary record on the book. 

n3 



100 THE EARLY HISTOllY OF AMENIA. 

pied by the Amenia Seminary ; and he owned lands in 
several other places in the town. 

John Lovel, the father of Capt. Joshua Lovel, from 
Kochester, Mass , came into this part of the countr}^ in 
1745,"^ and settled first where Mr. Geo. H. Swift now 
lives, and in 1770 removed to Sharon. 

Dea. Meltiah Lotrop lived on the place which was 
afterwards the home of Judah Swift. That is a part of 
Oblong Lot 45, which Mr. Lotrop and others had 
bought of Cadwallader Golden, He was the father of 
Walter Lathrop, Esq., and the grandfather of Silas, 
Daniel, and Walter, Jun. Esq. Lathropt was a man of 
extensive reading. 

Silas Marsh, Esq., called " Lawyer Marsh," was son 
of Eev. Cyrus Marsh, of Kent, Conn., and brother of 
Mrs. Anne Delamater. He lived some years near Sha- 
ron Station, and awhile in the Vf inchester house. He 
was an active patriot. 

Nathan Mead, of Greenwich, Conn., was here as 
early as 1740, and had purchased the lands now owned 
and occupied by J. Franklin Mead, who is the fifth gene- 
ration there. Nathan Mead was the father of Job Mead, 
and the grandfather of Job Mead, Jun. These latter — 
father and son — served awhile in the Revolution. 

The late John King Mead, Esq., son of Job Mead, 
Jun,, and descendant of Samuel King, was in the Leg- 
islature in 1844. 

Thomas Mygatt, the father of Preston and Thomas 
Mygatt, came from New Fairfield in 1772, and pur- 
chased the lands where he resided, and which are still 
in the possession of the family. He was a descendant 
in the sixth generation of Deacon Joseph Mygatt, one 



* Sedgwick's "History of Sharon." 

t Esq. Lathrop's wife was sister of Steplien Warren. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 101 



of that company of Puritans, who immigrated to this 
country in 1633, and who came with Rev. Mr. Hooker 
and his company in 1636,* and commenced the settle- 
ment of Hartford. He was a wise counsellor of the new 
Commonwealth. Thomas My(:;att's father was a citizen 
of Danbury, and was distinguished for his enterprise 
and thrift. The Mygatt's in New Milford are of tlie 
same family. 

Eli Mills, the father of Eli and Henry and Mrs. Run- 
dall, came, about 1784, from Wiltonbury, now Bloom- 
field, once a part of Old Windsor, and purchased of 
Isaac Darrow, Esq., the farm where the late Eli Mills, 
Esq., continued to re^^ide till his death. He was a de- 
scendant of Peter Mills, one of the early residents of 
Windsor, w^ho was a native of Holland,t and who was 
also the ancestor of the Mills in Kent. The name in 
Holland — " Mueher " — has nearly the same signification 
as it has here. 

Stephen Morehouse came in 1792 from New Milford, 
and purchased where his grandson, Julius Morehouse, 
now resides. The large brick house on the place was 
built by Jacob liogardus, who had been some time a 
merchant in Sharon. :!: His sous were William, Zalmon, 
Garry and Henr}^ 

x4.1exander Neely was Post Master at North Amenia, 
which is now called Northeast Centre. 

Sj-lvanus Nye, from Falmouth, Mass., purchased in 
1771 the farm which had been the home of Joseph 
Chamberlain, and continued to reside there till his 
death. His wife was daughter of Dea. Moses Barlow. 

John Osborn, the father of Isaac Osborn, was a resi- 



* It was that memorable journey through tlie wilderness of more than au hundred 
miles by about one hundred men, women and children on foot, which is recorded in the his- 
tory of Hartford. 

t H. R. Stiles' " History of Windsor.- 
J Sedgwick's "History of Sharon.' 



102 THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

dent of South Amenia, among the earliest settlers. 
Isaac Osborn was a man of some reading and of unpro- 
ductive ingenuity. His son, Melancthon, went into the 
war of 1812, and, it is said, was killed in the battle of 
Bladensburgh. 

Capt. Nathan Osborn came into the south part of 
the town after the Hevolutionary war. He was a Tory, 
for which his land in North Salem, Westchester county, 
had been confiscated ; and he obstinately refused to 
take the necessary measures for its recovery, and died 
in poverty. 

The family in the time of the war, like many others 
in Westchester, were several times robbed of their 
goods. 

The Northrops were an important family in the town 
of Washington, and some of them were residents of 
Tower Hill, in the southwest part of Amenia. Enoch 
Northrop, from New England, was the father of Samuel, 
who settled on Tower Hill, on lands still held by the 
family. The sons of Samuel were William, Samuel, 
Benjamin, Nathan and John S. The burial place of the 
family is at Lithgow. 

Abraham Paine," son of Ehsha Paine, of Canter- 
bury, Conn., settled in Amenia 1741 or in 1742. 

Joshua Paine, also of Canterbury, the father of 
Judge Paine and Barnabas Paine, Sen., Esq., came in 
1749, and purchased in the east part of the town, on Lot 
59 of the Oblong. He was a farmer and blacksmith. 

Joshua Paine was nephew of Elisha Paine, of Can- 
terbury, and cousin of Abraham mentioned above. All 
the Paines of Amenia and Northeast are descendants of 
Elisha or Joshua mentioned. Ichabod Paine was son 
of Rev. Solomon Paine, of Canterbury, and grandson of 



vVbrahaui Paint took the lirst steps towards the organization of a church, 



THE EARLY HISTORY OP AMENIA. 103 

Elisha. They were all descendants of Thomas Paine,* 
who came to Plymouth from England in 1621. Ichabod 
Paine and Ichabod Paine Jan., lived many years north 
of Wassaic, on the farm afterwards owned by Leman 
Cook. 

Hon. Ephraim Paine was apprenticed in his youth 
to a farmer, whom he served with most exemplary fidel- 
ity. After the termination of his apprenticeship he 
made a voyage for trade to the West Indies and to Cape 
Sable, which gave him the means of a settlement in life, 
when he came to Ai\ienia in 1753. The house which 
Judge Paine built for himself, lately the residence of 
Milton Hoag, is still standing (1875), by the turnpike, 
west of the gate. The land he purchased of Timothy 
Mead in 1772.t 

Barnabas Paine,J Esq., father of Barnabas, Jun., 
and of Mrs. Bennet, of Canaan, Conn., lived where his 
son continued to reside, which is the place now occu- 
pied by S tough ton Moore. He had a knowledge of med- 
icine, and war. called Dr. Paine. 

Elijah Park and Ebenezer Park, brothers, came to 
Amenia from Bhode Island in 1768. Their ancestors 
had emigrated from England in 1635, going first to 
Maryland, and thence to Khode Island. Their resi- 
dence in Amenia was near the ore bed at Sharon Sta- 
tion, called the "Park ore bed." 

Ebenezer Park removed to Binghamton. ^Elijah 
Park, who was a public-spirited citizen, died in 1795, 
and his son, Elijah B. Park, and his daughters, Louisa 



* Josiah Paino, of Harwich, Mass., has compiled a genealogy of the posterity of 
Thomas Paine, of Eastham, the immigrant mentioned in the text. Abraham Paine, Rev. 
Solomon Paine, and Joshua Paine were great-grandsons of Thomas, the immigrant. 

t Jndge Paine sometimes preached in the absence of a minister. There is a reference 
in the old church record of some disagreemant between Judge Paine and his pastor. It 
grew out of no censurable conduct, but out of a disagreement in biblical exposition too 
positively stated. 

t Barnabas Paine in a few instances spelled his name, "Payen." 



104 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



(Mrs. Benjamin) and Olive, died also in Amenia. The 
other sons of Elijah removed to Binghamton. Also the 
family of Elijah B. Park afterwards removed to Bing- 
hamton, where the family is now well represented. 

George Park, Esq., brother of Elijah B., is living in 
Binghamton (1875). 

Col. Brinton Paine, who is mentioned among the 
officers of the war, etc., lived near the City on the Sand- 
ford place. His relationship to other families of that 
name does not appear. 

Abiah Palmer, father of Abiali W. Palmer, removed 
from Stanford to Amenia in 1789, and immediately took 
an active part m public business. His father's resi- 
dence in Stanford was near the place where Cornelius 
Pugsley lives. 

Edmund Perlee resided at the City, where he had a 
farm. His father left France, when about fourteen 
years old, without the consent of his parents, and after 
various fortunes settled in Amenia. Edmund Perlee 
served in the Bevolutionary war, and afterwards became 
Major- General of Militia, and filled several important 
civil offices. Several of his sons were in the war of 1812.* 

Yost Powerst was born in Naumburg, Germany, in 
1731. About 1752, he emigrated to America, and set- 
tled first in Bhinebeck, whence he came to Amenia 
about 1758, and purchased, at several times, the lands 
still occupied, some of them, by the family. His sons 
were Jacob, John, Frederick, David, and Peter. His 
daughter, Catherine, was the wife of David Bundall. 
John was the father of the late John Powers. Jacob- 
the son of Yost Powers, was a soldier in the Revolution, 



* Edmund, Abraham, and Henry were in the service. Abraham was severely 
wounded in a battle on the northern frontier. The other sons were Walter and John. 

t " Yi)st,"' or " Joest.' This name is now represented by "Justus," ihe name of 
some of his posterity. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 105 



ary war. It is said that Mr. Powers came from Germa- 
ny in the same ship with Peter Cline. 

Nathaniel Peck, of Bristol, K. I., purchased the Wi- 
ley farm of Garret Kow in 1795. 

Jonathan Peck, of Bhode Island, was owner of the 
farm where Hiram Cooper lives, and sold it to Samuel 
Jarvis. He built the old house near Mr. Cooper's resi- 
dence. His sister was the wife of George Reynolds. 

John Pennoyer, of Sharon, purchased, in 1743, on 
the hill east of Sharon Station, on Lots 60 and 62 of the 
Oblong. He was the father of Joseph and the grand- 
father of Jonathan Pennoyer. Some of his land is held 
now by Mr. Sylvester Pennoyer. 

Capt. David Parsons was a gentleman of the old 
school in his dress and manners. He w^as of the same 
family as the Parsons in Sharon, who came from New- 
town. Conn., in 1763. His house was on the east side 
of the turnpike, a short distance south of where the 
turnpike gate now is, on Delavergne Hill, and had some 
appearance of style. Capt. Parsons died in 1812 of the 
prevailing epidemic. His sons were Joseph^ Joel, Tru- 
man and David, and he had several daughters. 

Joseph was the father of Warren, Mrs. Bird, and 
several others. Joel was the father of Mrs. Westfall, 
who was afterwards Mrs. Palmer. Truman was the 
father of Sanford Parsons. 

Nathaniel, Thomas and Obadiah Perry, brothers, of 
Danbury, Conn., purchased together a tract of land in 
the southwest part of the town, and settled there soon 
after the close of the Revolutionary war. Nathaniel 
was the father of Henry Perry, and Thomas was the 
father of Thomas N. Perry and George M. Perry. 

Mr. John Perry was from Huntington, Conn., and 
was a relative of Mr. Obadiah Perry and others in the 



106 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENTA. 

south part of the town. His place of residence was 
Perry's Corner, previously callea Stebbins' Corner. 

Stephen Kay kept a tavern near the State line, west 
of Sharon Yalley, in a stone house which he built. He 
was born in England. 

John Eead, father of Charles and others, came from 
Eedding, Conn., in 1804, and purchased the farm near 
Amenia Union, where the old stone house stands, and 
where he died in 1821. Mr. Bead's father — Col. John 
Bead — gave name to the town where he lived, which was 
then spelled " Beading." 

The Beeds, of Amenia, were from Norwalk. In 1759. 
James Beed was one of a company of Connecticut 
troops, who passed through this town,* on their way to 
Canada, to the aid of General Wolfe in the conquest of 
Quebec. While on their way the company received 
news of the capture of Quebec, and were ordered to re- 
turn. Mr. Beed was so pleased with the Oblong valley, 
through which he leisurely returned, that he induced 
his father, Mr. Daniel Beed, of Norwalk, to purchase for 
him some landt here, which he did where the late Philo 
Beed, son of James, resided till his death. 

The brothers of James Beed, who removed here a 
few years later, were Ezra, J who lived where Huldah 
Bump did, Elijah, who owned the farm which he left to 
his son, Elijah, Jun., and Eliakim, who settled where 
his grandson, Newton Beed, now resides , Mrs. Warren, 
wife of Stephen Warren, was a sister of these. 

The emigrant ancestor of this family was John Beed, 

* This company of soldiers came uptlie west road from Dover, and halted for dinner 
at the brook, which comes down from Tower Hill. Capt. Keeu often referred with interest 
to that place where he toolc his first dinner in Amenia. It was this mustering of troops for 
that campaign, which gave the poet Young some incidents in his poem, " The Conquest of 
Quebec." 

t The land was 53 acres, which Daniel Keed purchased of Joseph Clapp. the original 
proprietor of Oblong Lot, No. 47, called "Clapp's I'atent."' Hltc the young man began 
with his axe only. 

X Ezra Keed and his family went to Hudson and Coxsackie. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. IC'T 



who came from Ed gland in 1660. He had been an offi- 
cer in the army of the Commonwealth, and came away 
at the Restoration. He died at Norwalk, in 1730, aged 
97. It was that part of Norwalk, called " Five-Mile 
Biver," on the west line of the town. Here Mr. Reed 
prepared a room in his own house, where public wor- 
ship was held till the church of Middlesex was formed, 
now in Darien, not far from Five-Mile River. He was 
a good specimen of the Puritan soldier, who held his 
sword in one hand and his bible in the other.* 

James Reed married the daughter of Daniel Castle, 
Esq., in 1759, and built his house on the spot where 
Jas. H. Swift's residence now stands. This house was 
removed many years ago, and is now a comforatble 
dwelling, a tenant house belonging to M. F. Winchester. 

Eliakim Reed's sons were Eliakim, Jun., who went 
to Greene county, Simeon who settled in Vermont, Silas 
and Samuel, who settled in Ontario county, Phineas, 
who lived in Hillsdale, and Ezra,t who remained on the 
homestead. Eliakim Reed's settlement in Amenia 
was in 1773. 

Capt. Reed was a man of great sagacity and enter- 
prise, and was very extensively and favorably known 
for his honorable dealing. He enlarged his landed es- 
tate, conducted a store, and a mill, and a manufactory 
of iron, and, in the time of the war, of steel. He was 
also one of the first in sustaining a religious society. 
Capt. Reed left a good estate to each of his ten sons and 
two daughters.]: 



* His sword was preserved by the familv several generations, and tliov have been a 
bible-reading family. 

t The wife of Ezra Reed was a descendant of William Hvde and also of Capt. Oeorge 
Dcnison and Anne Boradil. 

J The sons of Capt. Reed were Daniel, Reuben, Stephen. Elijah, Amos, Gilbert, Jesse, 
Jacob, James and Philo. Only Reuben, Stephen and Philo died in Amenia. The others 
removed to the western part of the state. The daughters were Mrs. Xurtlirop and Mrs. 
Rose. They all left tamilies except Philo. 



14 



108 THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

David Eundall came from Horse Neck,* while a lad, 
about 1770, with an elder brother (Jared ?), to whom he 
was bound apprentice to learn the tailor's trade. About 
the termination of his apprenticeship, the war com- 
menced, and he served two campaigns. He settled 
first north of Henry Peters, and in 1795 he removed to 
the place where he ended his days. " David Eundall 
and Catherine Powers were married Dec . 30, 1778. — 
Eoswell Hopkins, Esq." He was the father of Jacob 
and the late Col. Henry Eundall, and Mrs. Mesick. 

Daniel Eowley was from East Haddam, Conn. 

Bezaleel Eudd and Zebalon Eudd were in the north 
part of the town, as it was ; also Elijah Eoe, Silas Eoe, 
and Jeduthan Eoe. 

Philip Eow, and others of that family, lived in the 
extreme northwest corner of the town, where the late 
Andros Eow lived. 

Joseph Eeynolds was one of the earlier members of 
the church at the Eed Meeting House. t 

Jonathan Eeynolds was a citizen of Amenia, residing 
in the west part of the town in 1762, and was chosen 
Assessor at the first Town Meeting. 

Stephen Eeynolds, the father of Dr. Israel Eeynolds 
and others, resided a short distance north of the City 
church, previous to 1767, in a house, still remaining, 
which was evidently built before the Eevolution. 

His father was Francis Eeynolds, of Horse Neck, 
and his grandfather was James Eeynolds, who died a t 
his house on a visit in 1767, and was buried at the City, 
at the age of 93. The ancestors of the family came 
from England in the reign of Queen Anne. Stephen 

* Horse Neck— now Greenwich— was so called from a neck of land on the Sound, 
where horses were pastured. 

t " Ruth and Lidia, children of Joseph and Lidia Reynolds, were baptized.— 1752.'' 
Israel, son of Joseph and Lidia Reynolds, was baptized— 1754." 



THE EAKLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 109 

Reynolds' wife was Eachel, daughter of Benjamin 
Denton * 

George Reynolds, the father of Jonathan P., George 
and Joseph Reynolds, was from Bristol, R. L, and 
bought, in 1795, the farm of Solomon Cook, where 
Jonathan P. Reynolds formerly resided. 

Jonathan Sanford was the father of Geo. Sanford 
at the City. 

Samuel Shepard was Collector of Taxes in 1764. 

Israel and Jonathan Shepard were among the patri- 
ots of 1775. The family owned land now belonging to 
Mr. Bartram. Daniel Shepard resided near the north 
west part of the town. 

Parrock Sherwood lived near Amenia. Asahel Sher- 
wood was the father of Henry and William Sherwood, 
and resided in the south part of the present village of 
Amenia. 

George and Frederick Sornborger lived near North- 
east Centre. 

Isaac Smith, from Hempstead, L. I., migrated to 
Amenia in 1757, and settled on the farm, known in the 
family as the " Square farm," where he died in 1795. 

His ancestors came from Gloucestershire, in Eng- 
land, to Boston, in 1635-6, and removed thence to 
Hempstead, in 1639. 

Mr. Smith was one of the Justices for the Crown 
before the war. He had five sons and six daughters. 
One of his sons, Hon. Isaac Smith, the late judge, be- 
came sole owner of the farm, where he lived till 1813, 
when he became owner of the Johnson estate at Lith- 
gow, to which he removed, retaining at the same time 
the valuable property at the Square. His sister, Cath- 

* The wife of Dr. Israel Reynolds was Deborah Dorr, who was a descendant of Wm. 
Hyde, and consequently her name comes into that remarkable genealogy compiled by 
Chancellor Walworth. 



110 THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

erine, was the wife of Jacob Bockee. Dr. John Miller 
twice married sisters of Judge Sraith. 

Judge Smith was very enterprizing and efficient in 
promoting the interests of agriculture in Dutchess coun- 
ty, particularly in the production of fine wool. He died 
in the midst of his enterprises in 1825. 

Piatt Smith lived in the north part of the town, now 
Northeast. 

Mark Spencer, who distinguished himself by his 
financial operations with the late Jacob Barker and 
Matthew L. Davis, lived with his father near Amenia 
Union. The family was from Guildford, Conn. 

Elias Shevalier died in 1808, aged 95 years. He was 
a native of France, and came to this country when a 
boy, and was sold, as they called it, for a given time to 
pay his passage. He came to Amenia when just mar- 
ried, and acquired by his industry a good estate. He 
was a liberal supporter of the old church in its begin- 
ning. His sons were Peter, Elias, Jun., Abner, Richard 
and Solomon and he had several daughters. Abner 
was one of the deacons in the Baptist church. 

The old brick house, belonging to Hiram Cooper, 
was built by the family, and the last of them, who re- 
sided in the town, was xlbner second, who removed in 
1832, with John Dunham, to Broome County. The 
name is very variously spelled. 

Bowers Slason kept a tavern on the hill east of Sha- 
on Station, which appears to have been a populous 
neighborhood. Peter Slason lived in South Amenia. 

Capt. Roger 'Southerland lived in the west part of 
the town, near Adam's Mill. He was the father of 
Rodger B. Southerland, who married the daughter of 
Israel Totten, and lived where W. Piatt Perlee now 
resides. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. Ill 



Judali Swift settled in Amenia in 1769. He was 
from Barnstable county, Mass., and moved to tins place 
with his family by a team of three yoke of oxen."^ He 
settled on the farm where his son, Moses, continued to 
reside. His son, Seth, built the house w^here Thomas W. 
Swift now resides, and continued there till his death- 
Samuel Swift and Nathaniel, sons of Judah, removed to 
the western part of the State. The son of Moses Swift 
was Thomas. The sons of Seth were Moses, Henry, Elea- 
zer Morton and Thomas W. Henry Swift was a lawyer 
in Poughkeepsie. E. M. Swift was a lawyer in Dover. 
The others were residents of Amenia. 

Thomas and Timothy Stevens were early residents 
of the south part of the town. Thomas was the father 
of the late William Stevens, who removed to the west- 
ern part of New York. 

Stephen Trowbridge, of Danburj- — now Bethel — was 
an early resident living north of Perrj^'s Corner. He 
was the father of Stephen B. and Alexander Trowbridge. 

The Thompson familyt came to Stanford about 1746, 
and some of the family soon after came into Amenia. 
Their ancestors emigrated from England in 1637. " Be- 
ing Dissenters, they came to this country quietly to en- 
joy freedom in their religious principles, and to avoid 
the persecutions and exactions to which they were 
subjected." Samuel Thompson w^as a citizen of Amenia 
in 1769, and Benajah Thompson, who lived where R. R. 
Thompson, Esq., now resides, went from this town to 
the Legislature in 1804, etc Dea. Seth Thomson lived 
about a mile south of the City P. O 

Israel Totten resided where W. P. Perlee now lives. 



* Moses was seven years old when the family came here, and rode one of the oxen on 
the journey. 

t Enos Thompson Troup, a former Governor of New York, was of this family. The 
birthplace of Judge Smith Thompson is at the Square. 



112 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



He began here as a laboring man, and acquired a good 
estate by his personal industry. His wife was Esther 
Warren, from Norwalk, Conn. 

Stephen Warren was from Norwalk, Conn. He 
owned the farm of J. T, Sackett, and built about the 
time of the Kevolution the house now on the place. 
His wife was sister of Eliakim and James Reed. His 
sons were James, Stephen, and Lewis. His daughters 
were Mrs. Shubel Nye, Mrs. Bishop, Mrs. Munson, and 
Mrs. Ketchill Reed. 

Samuel Waters, Esq., was a Justice of the Peace 
several years. His wife was Eunice Atherton. 

Capt. Thomas Wheeler, from Woodbury, Conn., 
settled, in 1749, on the place now owned by his great- 
grandson, Erastus Wheeler. 

Capt. Noah Wheeler, the son of Thos., was a posi- 
tive, energetic man, and of stern patriotism. He dis- 
tinguished himself in battle, at Fort Independence. 
His sons were Noah, Wooster, Anthony, Newcomb 
David, Eben and Alanson. They were all farmers and 
obtained good estates. 

Capt. Thomas Wheeler was engaged in the French 
War, and while serving on the northern frontier was 
taken sick and returned towards home. He reached 
Fite Miller's tavern, in Columbia county, and died Sept. 
1st, 1757, at the age of 44 years. 

Col. Anthony Wheeler was an active man in political 
affairs during the War of 1812, and was also very effic- 
ient in his command of the 29th regiment of Militia. 

Elijah Wheeler, the father of William and Cyrus 
Wlieeler, was from New Marlborough, Mass. He died 
in 1774, aged 41. 

Robert Willson (son of Robert) came from the north 
of Ireland, when quite young, and lived in Connecticut 



THE EAKLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 113 



till his marriage, when he settled in Amenia, a little 
north of where his son, the late Capt. Robert Willson, 
and his family had their home. The wife of the elder 
Robert Willson was of the famihes of Kinman and 
Thompson. The ruins of the log house where he lived 
are remembered. 

Capt. Robert Willson, Jun., was well-known to the 
generation, of fifty years ago. Reuben Willson was his 
brother. 

Gilbert Willett was one of the Commissioners in the 
distribution to the proprietors of the Oblong Lots in 
1731, and he became the proprietor of Lot 52, which is 
near Amenia Union. The name is subscribed to the 
patriot's pledge in 1775; and in 1794-1800, Gilbert Wil- 
lett was a citizen of Amenia and a magistrate, and kept 
a store in the west part of the town. These — two or 
three persons — are supposed to be of the same family, 
and, it has been said, they were of the same family as 
Col. Marinus Willett. 

Amariah Winchester, from Kent, lived near Amenia 
Union. Mary Follett, of Kent, married Mr. Hatch, and 
they went to a new home in the valley of Wyoming, and 
were there at the massacre. He was killed and this 
young widow of 19 years returned to her old home, 
through excessive trials and dangers, so torn and sun- 
burnt that her friends did not know her. She became 
the wife of Mr. Winchester, and came with him to 
Amenia in 178L Their sons were Henry, Milo and 
David. 

The Woolsey family lived on Tower Hill. It was 
Richard Woolsey, a devout man of Mr. Knibloe's con- 
gregation, who expired on the threshold of the meeting 
house. He had repeatedly expressed the expectation 
of instant death. 



114 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



Capt. William Young removed to Amenia Union 
from Leedsville,'' and set up an extensive tannery. He 
built the house which is part of the tavern, and after- 
wards built the house which became the property of 
Dr. William Young Chamberlain. Capt. Young was 
from Orange county. His wife was Helena, daughter 
of Nicholas Eow, Sen. 



+^ 



JUDICIAL RECOKD. 



The Justices of the Peace, previous to the organiza- 
tion of the Precinct, were Castle, Hopkins, Bockee, 
Winegar, Smith, Garnsey and perhaps some others. 

The Record, kept with admirable clerical skill by 
Roswell Hopkins, Esq., show the " Actions determined " 
— civil cases — in his official service, which was more 
than thirty years, to have been 2,564. In 1777, there 
is a hiatus in the Record, which indicates partly the 
time when Col. Hopkins was absent in the war. 

This Record shows us also the judicial penalties of 
that age, and it must not be entirely hidden that there 
were some convictions where the penalty was " lashes 
upon the bare back." These convictions were by a 
Court of Special Sessions, held by three Justices. In 
these courts we find associated Samuel Waters, Josiah 
Gale, Joseph Carpenter, of Stanford, James Tallmage, 
Philip Spencer, &c., some of whom were from other 
towns. The fine for breaking the sabbath, for drunken- 
ness, and for a profane oath seems to have been three 
shillings, which went to the poor ; and though the treas- 

n5 



116 THE EARLY HISTOllY OF AMENIA. 

ury was not much helped, these convictions were sii]") - 
posed to be a proper expression of public sentiment 
against the crimes punished. 

March 24, 1784. — -A man was convicted of stealing a 
horse, saddle, and bridle, and was "adjudged" to be 
whipt 39 stripes, and the court issued a warrant to 
Reuben Allerton, Constable,"" who " immediately 
executed the same." 

This is the onl}^ case in which the execution of the 
sentence is recorded. A part of the penalty in most 
cases was that the criminal be transported out of the 
county. 

There is also a record of the marriages by Esq. Hop- 
kins, which in 34 years numbered 182. Many citizens 
of the best social position were married by him — -Daniel 
Shepard, Elijah Park, Daniel Hebard, Reuben Allerton, 
David Collin, David Rundall, King Mead, and others. 
It is understood that there was a peculiar grace of 
manner in the marriage ceremony oi this christian 
magistrate. 

It will not be inferred that this pleasant service was 
taken out of the hands of the clergymen of the town — • 
only in a small measure — when it is remembered that 
Rev. Mr. Knibloe, in 26 years of the same period of 
time, married 320 couples. 

* This was Dr. Allerton, a very humane man. But such was the law. 



SLAVERY. 



The German settlers and the Delamaters had their 
slaves, who were treated by them with exemplary kind- 
ness, and instructed by them in the facts and duties of 
religion. Jacob Evartson had a large number — as 
many as forty, it is said. Several of the early immi- 
grants from New England and other parts were also the 
owners of slaves. 

Most of the slaves in the town were manumitted in 
the manner and under tlie conditions prescribed by law. 

In 1788, Ezra Reed gave freedom to his slave, Joel^ 
and his wife, and their son, Jeduthan.^^' 

In 1792, Samuel Swift gave freedom to his slaves, 
Pomp and Mela, " in consideration of their faithful ser- 
vices ;" and in 1795, to his slave, Hannah, and her child, 
Zephaniah. In 1794, Judah Swift made free his " ne- 
gro man, named York." In 1794, Jacob Bockee gave 
freedom to his slave, " Simon Le Grand." 

It was very fit that Mr. Bockee should give this 
practical expression of his views of slavery, who a few 



* Jeduthan is remembered by some now as a much-respected citizen. 



118 THE EAELY HISTOEY OF AMENIA. 

years later introduced in the Legislature a bill for the 
abolition of slavery in this state. This important be- 
ginning resulted in the complete abolition of slavery 
July 4th, 1827. 

The}^ were not permitted to make any free and cast 
them off, who were not able to provide for themselves. 
There were, therefore, in 1824, a few years before the 
complete termination of slavery in this state, 32 slaves 
in Amenia. 

" Dutchess County, State of New York. — This may 
certify that Joel Mandore, a negro man, formerly a ser- 
vant of Ezra Reed, and his wife, now a slave to the said 
Ezra Reed, and their son, Jeduthan,^' a slave to the said 
Ezra Reed, who is disposed to manumit the said slaves, 
and it appears to us that they are under the 
age of fifty, and of sufficient ability to maintain them- 
selves, and of good moral character. 

Certified by us whose names are hereunto subscribed • 

Isaac Darrow, [ Justices o f 

Roswell Hopkins, i the Peace. 

Eliakim Reed, j Overseers of the Poor of 
Barnabas Paine, j" the Town of Amenia. 

Amenia, Oct. IWi, 1788." 
" Know all men by these presents, that I, Jacob 
Bockee, of Amenia town, in the county of Dutchess, and 
state of New York, for, and in consideration of the 
faithful service, and other good causes thereunto, do 
manumit and discharge from my service, or that of my 
heirs forever, a certain slave, named Simon Le Grande. 
" In witness hereof, I have hereunto set my band 
this eighth day of April, seventeen hundred and ninety- 
four. Jacob Bockee. 
" Witness, William Barker. 
" The above is a true record. — William Barker, 

Town Clerk." 

* Jeclutlian lived on the Darling- place, near Wassaic, and became a respectable citizen. 



INNS AND STORES. 



-o- 



It was the custom, almost univorsal in former days, 
in New England and New York, tliat the Inns, or tav- 
erns, were kept by citizens, who were the most wealthy 
and respectable of the people, very often by men who 
had large farms and possessed the means of providing 
ample accommodations. The public houses were not 
then, as now, located at the intersection of. highways, 
and there was not in the early days of ilmenia any 
village in the town to give local attraction to a tavern. 

Daniel Castle, Esq., kept a tavern at South Amenia, 
in 1758. Roswell Hopkins, Esq., was keeping a tavern 
when the first town meeting was directed to be held at 
his house in 1762, and the town meetings were held 
there in 1763, and 1764, In 1765 to 1773, the town 
meetings were held at the house of Col. Michael Hop- 
kins. After that year — Mr. Hopkins having died — at 
Timothy Green's, Major Simeon Cook's, Capt. Piatt's, 
Abiali Palmer's, and Capt. Wardwell's. 

In 1764, the following persons in Amenia Precinct 
received license to keep a tavern — Samuel Smith, Rob- 



120 THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

ert Johnson, Jonathan llejnolds, Edmund Perlee, Ste- 
phen Ray, Widow Eunice Wheeler, iSamuel Snider, 
Michael Hopkins, Simeon Wright, Stephen Johns, Ich- 
abod Paine, Benjamin HoUister, Jun., Daniel Castle. 

In 1790, eighteen citizens of Amenia received a 
permit to keep a tavern. Among these were Caleb Da- 
kin, Abiah Palmer, Stephen Reynolds, Edmund Perlee, 
Jaob Evartson, Elisha Barlow, Zerali Beach, Noah 
Wheeler, Lemuel Brush, and William Davies. Some of 
these were without the obligation to provide lodgings. 

One of the first stores established in Amenia was 
Capt. James Reed's, some years before the Revolution. 

It was a short distance north of his dwelling, and 
the place is marked now by a few locust trees, the off. 
spring of those planted at the time when the building 
was there. This store was resorted to for trade by' 
people from a distance and over a wide extent of 

country. 

Stores were kept also at an early day at the Square^ 
and near the City, at Neeley's, at Delavergne's, and at 
Adam's Mills, and near the Red Meeting House. 

The articles of trade were few, as domestic manufac- 
tures supplied so many of the articles now obtained 
wholly by exchange. Cotton, that enters so much into 
commerce now, was then scarcely known, and very few 
woollen fabrics came into trade — no hats, or shoes, or 
mittens, or any ordinary clothing. The trade was lim- 
ted to a few articles of foreign manufacture, with tea, 
wine and brandy, and the products of the West Indies. 

Much of the exchange was by barter, very little 
money was used and that was silver. 

Wheat was the iirst article of commerce that 
brought in money ; first, by exportation in bulk by waj- 
of Po'keepsie ; and after the mills were perfected, it 
was manufactured and sent in flour. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMEI^IA. - r21 

A serious part of the labor of every farmer and his 
team was the transportation of his produce to Po'keep- 
sie, and the return loads of heavy ^oods, rum, molasses, 
sugar, salt, and lately plaster." This burden is now 
exchanged for freights on the Harlem Railroad. 

. The people did not know the meaning of bills, checks, 
drafts, etc., till they learned by sad experience the story 
of continental bills. Money was hard and heavy. 
Capt. Reed at one time, when he was buying wheat 
pretty largely, requested his neighbor, Lieut. John 
Boyd, to bring fiom Po'keepsie a certain bag of silver 
money. Mr. Boyd brought it on horseback carrying it 
before him, resting on the pummel of his saddle . When 
he rode up to the doorsteps of the store, an attendant 
lifted the bag from the saddle, not without some exer" 
tion, and carried it into the store. This is certainly in 
happy (?) contrast to the present convenient method of 
almost dispensing even with paper money, let alone the 
silver. 



* It is not out of the memory of the oldest inhabitant how certainly at a proper season 
of the year the returnin<j wajfon brought a supply of clams. A large number of tho famihes 
of this town sent annually for a supplj^ of shnd to the East Camp, following the traditionary 
trail of the German immigrants from that place, who were the first settlers here and who 
kept up the traditionary habit of making ;in annual visit to their tirst liome in America. 



MANUFACTURES. 



LEATHER. 

The important business of making leather was con- 
ducted in several places in the town. It was one of 
those industries which were, in their location and ex- 
tent, exactly suited to the wants of the people, who 
used the hides of their own cattle for their boots and 
shoes and harnesses. Thej did not buy or sell to any 
extent. Their leather was in proportion to their beef 
and veal and mutton, and the bark for tanning was near 
at hand. The skins were carried to the tanner, and 
marked with the owner's initials, and returned to him 
after several months. Then they were carried to the 
shoemaker, who was often connected with the tannery, 
and the shoes were made to the measure of each foot. 
Or, more frequently, where there was a large family, 
the shoemaker "whipped the cat (whatever that means)," 
went to the house, and there made all the shoes for the 
family for a year. Other clothing also was made in 
this way. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. I'iB 



There was a tannery at South Amenia, established 
by Joseph and Gershom Reed ; one at Aiiienia Union, 
by William Young ; one at the Square ; one near- 
Thomas Ingraham's, and several others in different 
parts of the town. 

The trade of tanner and currier was considered very 
respectable and remunerative. The mechanical trades 
were all honorable. 



CLOTH. 

The manufacture of almost the whole of the cloth 
for the people was in the family. The wool and the 
flax were of their own production, prepared and spun 
by their own hands, and dressed under their direction, 
and fitted to their measure. The need of a new suit 
must have been anticipated a year, and the owner must 
wait and work for it all that time, before the suit would 
be ready to wear. But it did wear. 

Every neighborhood had its shoemaker, and tailor, 
and hatter, and other mechanics, and these were scat- 
tered among the farms, and were not, as now, clustered 
together in villages, or driven, as man}" of them are, en- 
tirely out of the country. This explains the fact that, 
the rural population of the town was greater then than 
it is now, and also the fact that any given rural district 
was able to sustain a much greater population than in 
the present style of commercial life."^' All this wealth 
of home-manufacture is removed from the country, and. 



* This is verified by actual count. In one of tlic host agrricultural districts of the 

town, we count twelve families, on contiguous farms, wliere tlie eliiltlren— mostiy urown 

'>■ to manhdod— immlnTcd .'W. In tlie ;,'-en-.Tati<in hefore tliis. tlie cliildrcn from tlic same. 

' houses nuniliorcd ]1.">, nil of wjiom reached mature lite. and. half of whinii attained old age. 

"■■<rh'ere is not in this district of about four miles in lineal extent an\ mechanic, but a wayon- 

ni»I;i;r, a blacksmith and a carpenter. 

^Wiiiough the older families have sent their sons and daughters to all parts of the 
land, and have become greatly diminished in nianbers. there are yet more than twenty 
\ families living on lands wliich their ancestors lield a hundred \ ears ago. or more. 



124 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

the sustentation of the people comes almost wholly from 
their land. This, on a fertile soil and with high culture 
keeps up the wealth of the few, who are necessary to 
conduct the business of agriculture, but on an unpro- 
pitious soil, the people, without domestic manufactures 
and left to agriculture alone for their living, become 
impoverished, and the population declines in numbers 
and wealth. This is true of many distiicts in our 
country. 

It was a notable advance in the use of machinery 
when Mr. John Hinchliffe set up his carding machine 
at the Steel Works, in 1803 Wool had previously been 
carded by hand, but now it was brought from a great 
distance to this novel and curious machine, which was 
the first in this part of America. 



LEEDSVILLE FACTORY. 

After the beginning of the present century, the haz- 
ardous condition of American commerce, and the high 
price of imported woolen fabrics led enterprising men 
to enter upon associated schemes for the manufacture 
of woolen cloth. The Woolen Factory at Leedsville 
was established in 1809. Rufus Park, of Amenia, and 
Judson Canfield, of Sharon, Conn., were the principals 
in the company. The name " Leeds " was suggested by 
an Englishman, who was engaged in the works, and who 
had come from Leeds, in England. 

The peace with Great Britain, in 1815,* put an end 
to the profits of manufacturing woolens in this country, 
and the company at Leedsville failed. The property 

• The bell of the factory was rung loud and long when the news of peace arrived, 
but it was the death knell of its prosperity. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 125 



was purchased by Mr. Selah North, who established 



the business of cloth dressing. 



THE FEDERAL COMPANY. 

In the latter part of the last century, a company 
was formed in the northwest part of the town, which 
seems to have been for the purpose of general trade. 
It was called the " Federal Company," and they con- 
ducted the Federal Store. Judge Smith was at the head 
and there were about nine other associates. About 
1803, another company was formed, including several 
members of the Federal Company, and, with William 
Davies at the head ; and freighting business at Pough- 
keepsie was a part of their scheme. Previous to 1817, 
an association was incorporated, including some of the 
members of the former companies, and they also had 
their headquarters at the Federal Store. The first ope- 
ration was carding wool, by horse power, but not suc- 
ceeding in this, they removed to the stream* near 
Adam's Mills, where they erected a building for the 
manufacture of woolen cloth, and in which they used 
water power for the machinery. The late Capt. Robert 
Willson was President of this company, and they issued 
a considerable amount of small bills as currency. The 
business of this company was not profitable, and the 
property was sold to Lawrence Smith, who continued 
the work of cloth dressing.t These facts were received 
mostly from Capt. Samuel Hunting. 



* The bridge where this turnpike crosses this stream was called " Federal Bridge." 

t Associated capital in the manufacture of cloth has never been productive in this 
town. Some of our citizens were connected with the factories at Amenia Union, in which 
there was a total loss of more than $35,000. 



126 THE EARLY HISTOllY OF AMENIA.. 



IRON MAKING. 

It seems probable that the important business of 
making iron was begun in Amenia sometime before the 
Revolutionary war, and when the smelting of the ore 
was mostly by the forge. On the small stream that 
passes through the mountains west of Leedsville, and a 
little south of the gap, Capt. Samuel Dunham had a 
forge. The ore used in these works seems to have been 
taken from the present Amenia ore bed,* as Mr. Dun- 
ham had then an interest in the Nine Partners Lot 32. 

It is also evident that there was a forge at the Steel 
Works as early as 1770,t and the ore for that also was 
taken from the Amenia mines. 

It was not till 1825 that the important works of N. 
Gridley & Son, at Wassaic, were commenced. From 
that time the manufacture of iron and the product of 
the mines have grown into large proportions, and con- 
tributed greatly to the common wealth of the town. 

The Furnace at Wassaic was begun and built up by 
•Tosiah M. Reed, Leman Bradley, Nathaniel Gridley and 
Noah Gridley. The site for the furnace — a few acres — 
and the ore bed had been purchased by Elijah B. Park- 
and sold to the above parties for six thousand dollars. 

In ' 1825, the youngest of these parties began 
alone among the rocks, with a single team of oxen, the 
construction of works, which have arisen to so much 
importance. It was not without some doubtful strug- 
gles against adverse circumstances that success was 
gained. But all these men took hold of their business 
with their right hands. 

* In 1743, a record was made of a right of way to the ore bed, which Waterman 
qold to Samuel Forbes. 

t Historical Record. ■ ■■..:. i 

1 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 127 



In 1844, the property came into the hands of Noah 
and William Gridle}', and on the death of William, into 
the possession of the survivor. 

There ^vas no house in the place or any building ex- 
cept the remains of an old saw mill near the furnace 
dam. 

The furnace was at first called " Johnny Cake Fur- 
nace," from the local name of a street in the vicinity. 

The making of plows was one of those trades, which 
w^ere required in every agricultural district. The plow 
was of wood, and the wearing part of wrought iron, the 
share being frequently sharpened by the blacksmith. 

Moor Bird was a skillful plow maker, and made cra- 
dles also. The cast-iron plow was introduced in the 
earh^ part of this century, and the first manufacture of 
them in this town was by Mr. Calvin Chamberlaiti, at 
the City. 

, . THE STEEL WORKS. 

Near the beginning of the Revolutionary "war, the 
importation of iron and steel being cut off, home manu- 
facture was necessarily stimulated ; when Capt. James 
Keed and a Mr. Ellis entered upon the manufacture of 
steel, at the place wdiicli has since retained the name of 
*' Steel Works," and they prosecuted the business some- 
time with success. They obtained the iron for their - 
purpose in pigs from Livingstones Furnace at Aneram, 
which was ?i blast furnace, and' the first in this part Of' 
the country.* These efforts at hbriie ruanufactnre 'w6rel 
considered patriotic as well as profitable. • 

.;- * Isaac RentQu was ij. skilled workniJin in this new^y-brganized niamifacture,,and,t 
received a liljj^h compensati'on; ■■■■'■ .,.•.;'< i . . . .;. . , .. :;....:,; 

.2. The price paid for coaj was twpiity shillings a load; but it does not appear how many 
bushels constituted a load. The price for cartin<,' iron- from Llving8toA:'s fHrnace was.tefl 
shillings for twelve hunored, which seemed to make a load. 

■3. Steel was sold for a shilling per- pound at retail; at wholesale it was sold tor £4 per 
hqnflred, and refined steel at £.■) per hundred. Captain Keed, in 1776, purchased Harris' 

cytlies at 84 shillings [>cy, dos'Jii^ paying in steel, and retailed, them at ten shillings apiece.... 



THE SHARON CANAL. 



About the year 1821, the New York and Sharon Ca- 
nal was projected, and many of the enterprising men of 
Amenia took a lively interest in it, though some of the 
more cautious ones looked upon the scheme as visionary. 

This Canal was to be constructed from Sharon Val- 
ley, down by the Oblong river, and by the Swamp river 
to the sources of the Croton in Pawling, and by the 
Croton to the Hudson — or from the lower part of the 
Croton to the Harlem river. It was also contemplated 
that the Canal would be extended north through Salis- 
bury to Great Barrington, in Massachusetts. 

The preliminary survey was made, and about sixty 
thousand dollars was contributed This money was de- 
posited with a broker in New York, who failed, which 
discouraged the managers, and the scheme was aban- 
doned for awhile. In 1826, the project seems to have 
been renewed, and a Report of the Canal Csmmissioners 
was made to the Legislature of surveys aud estimates 
by an engineer employed by the Commissioners. The 
estimated cost of the Canal to the Hudson was $599,232, 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 129 



and by the other route to the Harlem river, it was 
$1,232,169. This was for the whole expense of excava- 
tion, embankments, aqueducts, locks, bridges and every- 
thing to the completion of the work. A survey was 
made of the ponds and streams, which could be made 
to supply the canal with water, and also an estimate 
was given of the transportation to be expected. We 
find no record of the project after this. 

We find a curious statement in the Commissioners* 
Report, viz. : — " It has lately been discovered that Le- 
high coal answers an excellent purpose in smelting iron," 
and it is estimated that in five years the transportation 
of this coal for the iron works in Sharon and vicinity 
would pay sufiicient toll to maintain the canal. The 
survey established the interesting fact that the Weebu- 
took and all its upper waters can be made to flow into 
the city of New York.* 

Cyrus Swan, of Sharon, Joel Benton and Thomas 
Barlow, of Amenia, William Tabor, of Pawling, and 
Mark Spencer, formerly of Amenia, were among the 
active projectors of this enterprise. 



* In looking for resources for a further supply of water to the city of New York, it 
las been sugsrested that this stream may be required. The waters of the Weebutook in 
tlie south part of the town are nearly 500 feet above tide. There is documentary evidence 
that the project to carry the waters of the Croton river into the city of New York was first 
suggested by the projectors of the Sharon canal. 



TRAVEL AND POST EOUTES. 



The means of travel and communication in the last 
century were in strange contrast with the present* 
There was not even a stage coach or mail carriage 
known in this part of the country. The only post road 
in the State in 1789 was between New York and Albany, 
and the number of Post-ofiices in the State was only 7. 
It was not till 1823 that the Post-office at Amenia Union 
was established, and that was on a mail route which 
extended from New Milford, Conn., to Pownal, Vermont, 
through Sharon and Salisbury, and the principal towns 
of Berkshire county. The mail was carried through 
each way once a week, most of the time in a one-horse 
wagon. Previous to that, the letters — the few that were 
written — were carried by private hands, and the news- 
papers — from Hartford and from Poughkeepsie — were 
carried by post-riders on horseback. New York could 
not be reached in less than two days, the journey there 
b}^ merchants and others being on horseback. Heavy 
goods came by sloops to Poughkeepsie. The line of 
stages which was run between Poughkeepsie andLitch- 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 131 



field, through Amenia, turned a large current of travel 
into that new channel. 

The Dutchess turnpike, so useful to the people of 
Eastern Dutchess and Litchfield counties was made in 
1805, against the protest of some who in opposition 
built the "Shunpike." 

There is a stone standing by the road, which leads 
from the Steel Works to Dover, and where the stream 
comes down from Tower Hill, on which is inscribed 
" 183 miles to Boston." Another stone is standing near 
the parsonage in South Amenia, inscribed " 35 miles to 
Fishkill," " 179 miles to Boston," " 29 miles to Pough- 
keepsie.' These were set up in the time of the Revolu- 
tionary war, while the British held the country below 
the Highlands, and this was one of the principal routes 
between the Eastern and Southern States, by the w^ay 
of Fishkill, where they crossed the Hudson. There 
were one or two seasons when salt was brought from 
Boston by this route. Officers of the American army 
and of the French army passed this way between the 
Eastern States and the Headquarters on the Hudson. 
The Hessians were marched through the town on this 
road to Fishkill, where they crossed the river, when 
they were removed from Massachusetts to Virginia in 
1778. 

In the early part of this century, ''mile boards" were 
placed along the Oblong road, which told the distance 
to New York. The one at Amenia Union said " 98 
miles to N. York." The measure was probably from 
the Battery, and by a route less direct than the 
present route. 

m 



AGKICIJLTUEE. 



Agriculture was the chief business of the early set- 
tlers, as it has continued to be ol" their successors. The 
two objects which induced their emigration ^to this 
newly-opened field — as we have been told by a cotem- 
porary witness — were the enjoyment of religious inde- 
pendence and the possession of fruitful lands. They 
were not refugees from justice, nor broken merchants, 
nor bankrupt politicians, nor wild adventurers, nor ra- 
pacious speculators ; neither very poor, nor very rich ; 
every one of them expected to gain a subsistence by the 
honest labor of his hands. And this productive labor 
was directed chiefly to the cultivation of land and to 
those mechanical trades, which are essential to the con- 
venience of an agricultural community. It was very 
attractive to them that the title to the land was without 
dispute, and it also seemed to many of them a healthful 
atmosphere of freedom, where there was no interference 
of the civil authorities with the interests of religion. 

Much of the tillable land was easily cleared, and 
responded bountifully to the simplest cultivation. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 133 



There \Yas plenty of timber for building and all other 
purposes. The land was well watered with springs and 
rivulets, and larger streams for mills. The mountains 
and valleys were the same then as now which made it 
a most natural expression of the poet, when he looked 
over the landscape, to call the name of the town 
tleasanl. 

It is a reasonable supposition that the sagacious 
pioneer looked forward with hopeful prophetic vision to 
the days of agricultural prosperity, which were realized 
by those who have followed him in his labors. 

None of the early laborers here failed to gain a 
comfortable subsistence by the slow and sure gains of 
the farm, and none of them attained extravagant 
wealth ; and through the subsequent generations of 
the citizens of this town there has been a more equal 
distribution of property among the people than in most 
other towns of Dutchess county. 

The first product of the land, which brought any 
income, was wheat, which began quite early to be ex- 
ported. Mills were constructed, as has been stated, 
first at Leedsville about 1740, and soon after one at the 
Steel Works by Waterman, and several others at dif- 
ferent places in the town. In 1760, Henry Clapp,^ of 
Rumbout (Fishkill), sold to Thomas Wolcott,t of Crum 
Elbow (Amenia, then a part of Crum Elbow), a mill site, 
where the stone mill now stands, and Simeon Kelsey 
built a mill there. Capt. Reed purchased this, and en- 
larged it by adding to it the mill at the Steel Works, 
which he had also purchased. The mill of Lewis 
Delavergne was also constructed early. 



* Henry Clapp and Elias Clapp were sons of Joseph Clapp, the proprietor of Lot 47 
called "Clapp's Patent." 

t Thomas Wolcott, the father of Luke Wolcott, was a blacksmith at South Amenia, 
and already had a saw mill on the stream opposite the mill site. 



134 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

The production of wheat was greatly stimulated 
about the end of the last century, when, owing to the 
disastrous wars in Europe, flour bore enormous prices. 
Large crops were raised here which brought in an 
unusual income. 

After the wheat crop began to fail, attention was 
turned more to corn, and for a few years to barley, and 
then to oats. About the beginning of this century, the 
farmers of Dutchess county began the use of plaster, 
and the cultivation of grass, which was followed by an 
increased number of fatting cattle and sheep, and an 
improvement of the land. In 1825, the production of 
fine wool became of general importance, and, in 1835, 
the number of sheep in Amenia was 21,761, and in 
Dutchess county 230,000. These statistics are given, 
only to compare the earlier with the later farming of 
these lands ; and not to extend the history over these 
later years. 

The price of wheat in 1776 was five shillings a 
bushel, and that was the price of a day' s work in har- 
vesting. Butter was ten pence per pound. The wages 
of a hired girl at housework or spinning was ^ve shil- 
lings a week. They were not servants as a class, but 
were many of them equal in social position to their 
employers. 



THE WAK OF 1812. 



The losses to the people of Amenia by the utter de- 
preciation of continental money was not so serious as 
to those in other places, as only a few here were en- 
gaged in any business that required much capital ; but 
the demoralizing influence of the war upon society and 
the disturbance of industrial pursuits were manifested 
for many years, and it was some time before the busi- 
ness and social interests of the people were restored to 
their former prosperity. 

It is understood that the people of Amenia took an 
intelligent interest in the great questions which agitated 
the country previous to the final ratification of the Na- 
tional Constitution, and in all those national subjects, 
which awakened so much discussion and no little dissen- 
sion previous to the War of 1812. All those differences 
of sentiment, which divided the nation into two parties, 
were sharply defined here. The embargo and the other 
restrictions upon commerce were not regarded as affect- 
ing their pecuniary interests, not being a commercial 



136 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



people, but they took distinct and positive ground on 
those matters of national interest, which seemed to dic- 
tate a choice between the British and the French 
nations in any close political affinity. The voters of the 
town were almost equally divided on these questions for 
many years. 

When war was declared in 1812, there was only a 
partial response here to the call for men, though there 
was no violent opposition to the measures of the Gov- 
ernment. A few men were enlisted into the regular 
army one or two volunteer companies were raised, and 
sent to New^ York, and drafts were made from the uni- 
form companies and other militia . Col. John Brush 
commanded the troops from Dutchess county, which 
were stationed at Harlem Heights. Henry Perlee was 
Captain of one of the companies. Jacob Bundall served 
as Captain, and William Barker and Samuel Bussell 
served under Col. Anthony Delamater. Jesse Barlow 
was Captain of a volunteer company and was stationed 
on Staten Island. Archibald AUerton served as lieuten- 
ant in a company of light horse. Of others in the ser- 
vice only a few names are found by diligent enquiry. 
William Snyder, Elijah Stevens, Eussell Stevens, John 
Jenks, Elijah Andrews, Ashbel Porter, Cornelius Jor- 
dan, Isaac Latimer, Seymour Haskins, Alexander Has- 
kins, Asa Hollister, Hezekiah Lewis, Eben Wheeler, 
Solomon Wheeler, Simeon Hall, George Reynolds, Jon- 
athan P. Reynolds, Milton Mason, and Enoch Anson. 
Lieut. Obed Barlow died near New York of fever at the 
age of twenty-one years. Lieut. Phenix Bockee was 
taken sick and died in Poughkeepsie. Sergeant Daniel 
Shepard returned home sick and died there. Colby 
Chamberlain returned and died at home. The gallant 
conduct of Capt. Henry Brush is mentioned in another 
place ; also the death of young Spencer. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 137 



There was very great imperfection in the sanitary 
arrangements of the military service in that war, in very 
marked contrast with those of our own late terrible 
struggle. There was then also lacking, perhaps, some- 
thing of that moral enthusiasm, which sustained the sol- 
diers of this war. 

It is surprising, that with such inadequate resources 
which the nation then possessed, that such important 
ends should have been attained in the War of 1812, 
which Mr. Lossing calls " the second War for Indepen- 
dence." 



PKOFESSIONAL MEN. 



There has scarcely been a lawyer in the town who 
has made the practice of his profession his chief busi- 
ness, though a considerable number who were natives 
of Amenia, and received their early education here, 
have become eminent at the bar and on the bench. The 
people of Amenia have been specially indisposed to 
litigation. From the earliest history of the town to the 
present, they have been noted for their freedom from 
family rivalry, from a desire of pre-eminence in wealth 
and social position, and from ambitious ostentation, 
and for their mutual confidence and good will to each 
other. This is the testimony of an eminent lawyer who 
went out from them. 

Barnabas Paine, Esq., was known as Dr. Paine, and 
he is supposed to have received a medical education, 
and appears to have been a man of considerable learn- 
ing. But he was not at any time exclusively occupied 
in the practice of his profession. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 139 

Dr. John Chamberlain was considered a skillful 
physician, and practiced some time in Poughkeepsie. 

Dr. Doty practiced some time in the east part of the 
town, and Dr. Delavergne, the " French doctor," as he 
was called, lived in the town some years- 

Dr. Reuben Allerton was a thoroughly-educated 
physician, and was engaged in an extensive practice 
when he died at the age of 54- His son. Dr. Cornelius 
Allerton, spent most of his professional life at Pine 
Plains. 

Dr. Cyrenus Crosby was the successor of Dr. Aller- 
ton in the west part of the town, and was a man of 
excellent attainments. 

Dr. Alpheus Leonard, from Canton, Conn,, who 
succeeded Dr. Allerton in the Oblong, was accustomed 
to have under his tuition a class of medical students. 

Dr. Elmore Everitt succeeded Dr. Leonard. 

There has been since their day a succession of 
educated and skillful physicians in the town, who are 
remembered by the present generation. 

ns 



LIBRARIES A^\D SCHOOLS. 



The people were from an early day in their history 
indebted largely to their public libraries for the high 
degree of intelligence which they attained. In Mr^ 
Knibloe's congregation a library was collected at a verj- 
early period, which was kept at Aroenia L^nion. After 
that a larger and more valuable library was incorpo- 
rated by the name of "Union Library," which was kept 
at Leedsville This was a collection of the most 
instructive literature in the language, and the books 
were read by a large proportion of the families in the 
town. Four times a year was there a " library day," 
when all the books were returned and others were 
drawn out. On these occasions a large company were 
collected to attend the drawing. A public library was 
also instituted at Ameniaville of similar literary works. 

The common schools of the town were of an excel- 
lent character, and were resorted to by all the families, 
where they received a solid, though limited, education, 
and there were some excellent private schools. 



THE EARLY HISTORY Oi' AMENIA. 141 

. Besides liev. Mr. Baruet's private instruction to 
young men — wliicii has i)een mentioned — a number of 
private schools for youni^ women were instituted at 
different times. Mrs. Kuies a daughter of Dr. Thomas 
Young, Miss Neelj, and later Mi^s Susan Nye, assisted 
to improve the tone of female education ; and many of 
the youth of both sexes were sent to the best schools in 
New England. 

It was not till 1835 that the Amenia Seminary began 
its excellent work. This was the natural outgrowth of 
a settled conviction in the minds of the people of the 
value of a higher education, and the advantages of it 
have been such as might be expected to a people so 
disposed, and from the eminent character of the in- 
structors, who have been connected with the institu- 
tion. These advantages were not only to the families 
of Amenia, whose sous and daughters were assisted 
there in their qualifications for usefulness at home and 
for honorable positions in other parts of the land ; but 
large numbers have come here from other towns and 
distant places for their education . 

The alumni of this institution have carried its good 
name into all the land. The late Rev. Bishop Clark has 
said, " that in every one of his v/idely-extended fields 
of labor, he has met the students of Amenia Seminary, 
not only in the ministry, but filling their proper places 
in the other learned professions." And they all seem 
to cherish a happy remembrance of the scenes which 
surrounded them here, and of the incidents of their 
school-day life — associations which are never forgotten. 

Some of those connected with the institution were 
the late Eev. Bishop Clark, Be v. Bishop Haven, Prof. 
Charles K. True, D. D., Kev. Joseph Oummings, D, D., 
President of Wesleyan University, Rev. E. O. Haven, 



142 THE EAELY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 

Chancellor of the University of Syracuse, Rev. Presi- 
dent Merrick, D. D , Rev. J. W. Beach, D. D., Rev. 
Cyrus Foss, D. D., Rev. Dr. Kidder, Rev. A. J. Hunt, 
Rev. A. S. Hunt, D. D., Rev. H. N. Powers, D. D., 
Prof. Alexander Winchell, LL. D., and many others, 
both teachers and pupils, of whom it is too nearly co- 
temporary to speak. 

The present rising condition of Amenia Seminary 
speaks for itself. 



THE " AMENIA TIMES.'' 



It is not out of place, and, perhaps, not out of time 
-—as illustrating the early tendency of the people of 
Amenia to intelligent study — to make this record, that 
the " Amenia Times " was instituted by the people 
themselves, and has been sustained by them as a neces- 
sary medium of business and literary intercourse. The 
conduct of this journal, so long under the direction and 
moulding hand of one of Amenia's sons, has been such 
as to reflect the taste of a cultivated community, and 
its good name is cherished with a reasonable pride by 
the citizens of the town.^* 

* The " Amenia Times " was established in 1852. 



TJIE OLD HOUSES. 



There are only about ten or twelve of the old dwel- 
lings, which were built more than a hundred years ago^ 
the few visible monuments of that period of our history. 
An old house is in itself a history. It seems to speak 
to us of the successive generations that have lived and 
died there. 

The house of Mr. Nye's family is supposed to have 
been built by Joseph Chamberlain, who died in 1765. 

Deacon Barlow's house, now belonging to Albert 
Cline, was built a little previous to the Revolution. 

The house built by Capt. Reed, in 1760, now re- 
moved, and belonging to Mr. Winchester. 

Mr. Gridley's Red House, near Wassaic. 

The house which makes a part of the residence of 

N. Reed. 

The Capt. Boyd house, belonging to G H. Swift. 
The large stone house, built by Hendrick Winegar, 

in 1761. 

The house of brick and wood, built by Johannes 
Delamater and Mary, his wife, in 1761, now belonging 
to M. B. Benton. 

Judge Paine's house, where Milton Hoag lived 
which is almost ready to fall down. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 145 

The Evartsou house, occupied by Mr. Putnam, was 
built in a superior manner, in 1763, by Jacob Evartson, 
and is well preserved. 

The residence of the Keynolds famil}', north of the 
City church, now in ruins, is undoubtedly one of the 
ante-revolutionary structures. 

Besides these dwellings, there is one edifice, which 
has outlived all memories, traditions and records, and 
that is the Old Separate Meeting House. It is evident- 
ly from its name — which points to a known period in 
church history — and from the absence of all tradition 
and record concerning it, one of the oldest structures 
in this town or vicinity. 

It is the last remaining specimen of that style of 
church architecture, which prevailed for rural churches 
an hundred and fifty years ago ; and although it was 
renewed and altered inside many years ago, the out- 
ward form is the same. It represents no christian 
community, and is claimed by none. It seems to be 
purposely forgotten. It stands as a significant memen- 
to of the time — which has come — of forgetfulness of old 
separations, and of all dissensions among Christians. 
Let it stand. 

We cannot go and look upon these old dwellings 
without passing some of those older and more enduring 
dwellings of those families ; well-chosen places where 
with filial reverence they made the graves of their fathers. 

That was a hundred and twenty years ago and more, 
and every year some have been added to that number, 
from successive generations, which keeps up the bond 
between the earlier residents here and ourselves. 

Mr. Sackett was buried in 1746, the earliest burial 
here which is recorded. In that old ground near 
Amenia Union, so beautifully situated, Uldrick Wine- 



146 THE EARLY HISTORY OF AMENIA. 



gar, the patriarch of the family, was buried in 1754. at 
the age of 102 years. Eve, the wife of Hendrick Wine- 
gar, died in 1749. The stone at her grave seems to be 
the oldest which is known in the town. There is a 
stone in the ground near Coleman's, where the Wheel- 
ers and Collins and others are buried, which is also 
dated 1749. The name on this stone is Kuth Curtis i 
and she was apparently one of the ancestors of the 
family of Capt. Thomas Wheeler. 

Thd old ground at the City is still the burial place 
of many families there, although there are some private 
grounds within the bounds of that congregation. The 
old burying place at xlmenia, which contains so many 
honored names is cherished with affectionate care by 
the friends, though they have selected and arranged 
with excellent taste a new cemetery for the present and 
future generations. 

Many there are in these old dwelling places, who 
have no other written memorial than what we read on 
their monumental stone, which affirms what has been 
already said that the unwritten life of this people is 
immeasurably greater than all that is written or remem- 
bered of them. 

But the brief lines in an old grave-yard have an 
intensity of historic interest, which is not found in any 
printed volume ; whether we rub off the moss of one 
hundred and twenty years, or pause over the grave of 
one so recently laid there, that we are unwilling to 
speak the name. We are touched with the very brevity 
of the record, cut in enduring stone, where it will be 
studied, after all these written memorials are forgotten. 

THE END. 



SUBSCEIBERS TO THIS WORK. 



% These names are inserted in the book as a part of 
the history. A large number of the subscribers have a 
hereditary interest in the earty residents of Amenia, 
and many others have become intimately connected 
with the people of the town by their residence here or 
by other associations. 



Adam, Wm. 
Allerton, Archibald M, 
Allerton, David 
Allerton, Mrs. Byron 
Allerton, Lois 
Allerton, Orville H, 
Andrews, Mrs. Henry 

Baird, Rev. C. W. 
Barlow, Henry 
Barlow, Franklin 
Barlow, Jesse 
Barrett, Oliver 
Barrett, Rev. Myron 



Barnum, John D. 
Bartram, Barney 
Bartlett, Wm. H. 
Bartlett, Wm. S. 
Bassett, Joseph 
Belden, Joseph 
Benson, Joseph H. 
Benton, Charles E. 
Benton, Joel 
Benton, Ezra R. 
Benton, Myron B. 
Benton, O. A. 
Benton, Simeon 
Bennett, John 



19 



148 



APPENDIX. 



Bertine, Iiol)ert 
Bird, Milo 
Bockee, Pbeuix 
Bostwick, Charles E. 
Bowdish, Mrs. S. A. 
Bowne, Sarah E. 
Boyd, John 
Boyd, John G. 
Bronson, Asahe), D. D. 
Bryan, Ezra 
Bullions, A. B., D. D. 
Bumster, James W. 
Bump, Julia 

Carpenter, Mary S. 
Carpenter, Isaac S. 
Carpenter, Jacob B. 
Carter, Frederick 
Chaffee, Jerome S. 
Chamberlain, Kev Albert 
Chamberlain, George 
Chamberlain, Oliver 
Chamberlain, Morton S. 
Chase, John H. 
Church, Wm. L. 
Clark, Douglass 
Clark, Edgar 
Clark, Henry 
Clark, Lorin 
Cline, Albert 
Cline, Franklin 
Cline, Edward E. 
Cline, J. H. 
Cline, Mrs. Maria 
Coleman, Amasa D. 
Collin, Mrs. Louisa 
Conklin, I Hunting 
Conklin, Nathan 
Conklin, Wm. B. 
Conklin, Amariah, M. D. 
Crane, George E. 



j Crane, Mrs. Munroe 

I Cornwell, Wm. I. 

I Cummings, Kev. Dr. J. 

I Dakin, Wm.P. 
Darke, Charles 
De Lacey, Wm. L. 
Dedrick, W. J. 
Denniston, Rev. James O. 
Deming, Ralph, M. D. 
Durant, Mrs. Harriet 

Eaton, L. F. 
Edgerton, Sheldon 

Fitch, Arthur 
Fitch, Rev. Silas 
Flint, Augustus 
Flint, Charles A. 
Frissell, Rev. A. C. 
Frost, Prof. S. T. 
Frost, Hyatt 
Fry, Simeon 

Gilbert, Lorenzo 

Greene, Louis C. M. D^ 
j Gray, Frank 
j Gridley, Noah 
I Gridley, Edward 

GrifflQ, Theron 

Guernsey, De Sault, M. D, 

Guernsey, John 

Guernsey, Samuel 

Hatch, L. P. 
Hatch, Mrs. R. C. 
Haskins, John 
Hammond, John 
Haven, E. O., D. D. 
Historical Society, L. L 
Hitchcock, Amariah 
Hitchcock, Charles 
Hitchcock, E. R. 



APPENDIX. 



149 



Hitchcock, Homer 
Hitchcock, Solomon 
Hebard, Newton 
Hebard, George E. 
Hollister, Hiel 
Hollister, F. Reed 
Hollister, Milo 
Hollister, Asa 
Hoagland, A. R. G. 
Hope, Anna 
Horton, Emily 
Hotchkiss, Fred. A. 
Hufcutt, George 
Hunt, Rev. A. J. 
Hurd, Egbert 
Hurd, Mrs. James 
Hutchison, E. N., M. D. 
Hutchison, Rev. S. Nye 

Ingrahara, George W. 
Ingraham, Henry C. M. 
Ingraham, Josian P. 

Jackson, W. 
Jarvis, Milton B., M. D. 
Jarvis, T. Newton 
Jenks, Frederick 
Jerome, J. H., M. D, 
Judson, John E. 

Kendall, Rev. J. L. 
Kelly, Cereno 
Kelsey, George A . 
Kempton, Eugene 
Ketcham, Rev. Wm. E. 
Killey, Mrs. N. S. 
Kir by, George 
Kinney, George 
Knibloe, Stephen 

Lacey, Romanzo 



Lambert, D. E. 
Lambert, George 
Lambert, John 
Lathrop, George 
Leonard, Hon. W. H. 
Lossing, Benson J., LL. D, 
Lovel, C. S. 
Lovel, John 
Lovel, Henry R. 
Lovel, Thomas 
Lowe, S. B. 

Mallory, Edward 
Marks, Cornelia Barlow 
Marsh, Mary Reed 
McCord,ReV. W. J. 
McCue, Hon. Alexander 
Mead, I. N., M. D. 
Mead, J. F. 
Mercereau, George 
Miller, Jasper 
Morehouse, Chauncey 
Morehouse, Julius 
Moore, Stoughton 
Morse, I. A. 
Moj'gan, Henry 
Munsell, Joel 
Mygatt, Abraham 
Mygatt, Ambrose 

Odell, S. G. 
Ostrom, John 

Paine, Ichabod B. 
Paine, Jeremiah W. 
Paine, Piatt 
Palmer, Augustus 
Parsons, O. W. 
Parsons, Truman 
Peck, Samuel 
Pennoyer, Silvester 
Penny, Darius 



150 



APPENDIX. 



Perlee, J. H. 
Perry, George N. 
Peters, Alfred 
Peters, Henry 
Pitcher, Mrs. Myra 
Place, Elizabeth S. 
Piatt, John I. 
Powers, Edward 
Powers, H.N.,D.D, 
Powers, F., M. D. 
Powers, P. B. 
Pray, E. H. 

Reed, Mrs. Betsey 
Reed, Miss E. C. 
Reed, F. Dana 
Reed, Daniel, M. D. 
Reed, H. Y. D. 
Reed, John H. 
Reed, C. V. A. 
Reed, Ira W. 
Reed, Horace H. 
Reed, James C. 
Reed, J. M. 
Reed, J. Herbert 
Reed, Homer H. 
Reynolds, Hon. G. G. 
Reynolds, Justus, 
Reynolds, Warren 
Roberts, Yirgil D. 
Rockwell, Almira R. 
Rockwell, L. E., M. D. 
Rose, Northrop 
Rose, S. P. 
Rose, Harvey M. 
Row, Henry 
Rundall, David 
Rundall, Henry 
Ryan, Thomas 

St, John, Dwight 
Sackett, L. B. 



i Sayre, Rev. W. N. 
Scott, C. H., Jr. 
Seeley, Rev. A. H. 
Sedgwick, C. F. 
Sedgwick, Harry 
Sherman, David H. 
Sherman, Walter 
Sherman, Shadrach 
Sherman, S. W. 
Sharpsteen, Mary Barnum 
Sisson, J. B. 
Sornberger, Philander 
Soule, J.^B. 
Smith, Henry W. 
Smith, Charles E. 
Smith, Richard 
Smith, Albert C. 
Smith, Myron 
Sprague, Col. W. G. 
Snyder, William 
Street, Chauncey 
Stevens, Milo 
Swift, Thomas W. 
Swift George H. 
Swift, James H. 
Swift, John M. 
Swift,^Seth 

Tallman, J. P. H. 
Tanner, Jas H. 
Terrett, Rev. W. R. 
i'aylor, Henry I. 
Taylor, R. B. 
Thomson, W. H., M. D. 
Thorn, J. S., M. D. 
Treadwell, D. M. 
Tripp, Daniel I. 

Van x^Jstyne, Wm. 
Van Dyck, Rev. L. H. 
Van Dyck, H. H. 
Van Dyck, Catherine C. 



APPENDIX. 



151 



Watson, James E. 
Wattles, Charles 
Walsh, Eev. J. J. 
Webster, Benjamin E. 
Webster, Cynthia 
Westfall, J.'W. 
Wheaton, Homer 
Wheeler, Benson H. 
Wheeler, Hiram 
Wheeler, Burnet 
Wheeler, B. H. 
Wheeler, E. E. 
Willson, Kev. K. E. 
Willson, Barak 



1 Willson, Samuel T. 
Willson, Israel K. 
Willson, Edward P. 
Williams, O. C. 
Wiltsie, Abram 
Wiley, Mrs. Ann M. 
Wiley, Allen 
Wiley, J. W. 
Williamson, Geo. A. 
Winegar, Norman 
Winchester, Milo F. 
Winchester, Erastus 
Winchell, Alex., LL. 
Woodward, Richard 



D. 



The Amenia Post Oflic«. 

A year ago enquiry was made, at my 
requist, of the Departmcut at Washington 
to obtain the date ot the estabiishment of 
.the Post Office, at Amenia. 

It was for the purpose of making the 
record in its proper place in the History 
of Amenia. We have just received the 
answer. It should not be supposed that 
it usually takes so long a time for red 
ta>p€ to come around. The apology, for 
delay .sent from the Department some 
time ago, was that there had been some 
confusion in the papers incident to a re 
arrangement— something in its effects 
like house cleaning, I suppose. 

I give the dates, aud any one, who 
wsshes i,o i^nprove hi^ History, can paste 
it in. It Hhoj^s tijat the establishment of 



this post office was much earlier t^an the 
office at Amenia TJnior whicjj was ij3 
1823. 

P. O. Depaitmeot Washingtou, ) 
January 26, 187fi J 
Thorapsou Nase, Es£j. Please fiqd en- 
closed information requested. 

Amenia, N. Y., P. O. Established 1807. 

POBT MASTERS. 



Salmon Bostwiek, 


July 1, 


1807. 


Abiah Palmer. 


Mav 29, 


1810. 


Thonifis Payne, 


Aug. 33, 


1823. 


Joel Brown, 


April 26, 


1834. 


Hiram Vail, 


June 18, 


1841. 


Elijah D. Freeman, 


Oct. 20, 


1844. 


Isaac M, Hunting, 


Feb. 22, 


1849. 


Riram Vail, 


May 2, 


1S49. 


Geo. Conklin, 


Aoril 6, 


1853. 


William H. Grant, 


May 4. 


1861. 


Abiah W. Palmer, 


April 16, 


1864. 


W. T. Ingersol, 


Dec. 21, 


1865. 


Oliver Chamberlain, 


Oct. 1, 


■ 1866. 


W. T. Ingersol, 


April 2, 


1867. 


Henry I. Taylor, 


Feb. 2, 


1872. 


EngeneKempton, 


Aug. 19, 


1872. 



I also add a little to our family history. 
It is said of Wait Hopkins that he was an 
officer in Col. Seth Warner's regiment, of 
Green Mountain Boys, and was killed by 
the Indians, but we did not know where 
he was killed. I learn now that he re- 
moved to Bennington, before the war, 
and that he was killed on Dimond Island, 
in Luke George. It was probably in 
Sept. 1777, when an unsuccessful attack 
was made on a British garrison, with 
some loss to our men, says Mr. Lossing. 

I have this from Col. J. W. Pratt, a 
member of the Bennington Historical 
Society, who has promised us more, and 
who had made many enquiries concerning 
the earlv families of Amenia. N. R, 



31 



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III! mill 
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